Family’s Relief As Hospital Admits Errors Over Devastating Birth Delays
07/06/2011
The family of a young boy, who developed cerebral palsy after medical staff failed to take steps to prevent his devastating injuries, have won their battle for justice after receiving an apology in court.
Alexander Ricket, now aged 5, was born with cerebral palsy after medical staff at a London Hospital took more than an hour to carry out a caesarean section despite his mother, Nicola, notifying staff that she was suffering from excruciating pain and bleeding during labour.
The delay led to Alexander being starved of oxygen, leaving him with devastating injuries that will require a lifetime of 24-hour care.
An investigation into Alexander’s birth in February 2006 found that Nicola had in fact suffered a ruptured uterus and that the Trust had failed to act within their own guidelines to arrange for “immediate” delivery.
Kingston Hospital NHS Trust agreed to settle the issue of liability at 92.5% in May this year, admitting that Alexander should have been delivered earlier; although they denied that earlier delivery would have made a difference to Alexander’s condition. The admission paves the way for a settlement to be agreed that will provide Alexander with the care and support that he will need for the rest of his life.
Today the family said they were ‘extremely relieved’ after a High Court Judge approved the agreement and medical negligence solicitors from Irwin Mitchell will now investigate how much compensation Alexander should receive.
The family’s solicitor, Anita Jewitt said: “Following a difficult legal battle Mr and Mrs Ricket are delighted that, after more than five years, they now know that Alexander will have sufficient compensation to meet his significant future needs.
“We will now work with the Trust in order to ensure Alexander has access to the funds he needs to live as comfortable and normal a life as possible in spite of his injuries. We hope this will be done as quickly as possible so that the family can finally begin to move forward with their lives.”
Mum Nicola, 42, and Dad Graham, 45, from New Malden, Surrey hope that lessons will be learnt. Nicola said: “Our lives have been turned upside down by the actions of the medical staff.
“I was in constant agony around the area of my previous caesarean section scar, and I was bleeding but they just let me carry on as normal for far too long.
“Alexander is severely disabled and does not have any verbal communication skills; he will need 24hr care for the rest of his life and recently has started to suffer from seizures. It is essential that lessons are learnt so that no one else should suffer as we have.
“There is no way we could have bought this claim for Alexander without the support of legal aid and we are extremely concerned about the Government’s proposal to remove cases like this from the legal aid system. Quite simply, it would prevent other families in a similar position to ours being able to pursue a claim.
“We welcome the apology delivered by the hospital’s lawyers in court today and only hope now that the Trust acts fast to make sure my son’s care needs are provided for so that we can finally look to move forward with our lives.”
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