Half a million medical negligence claim reaches court
A
medical negligence claim valuing £500,000 has reached the High Court in London.
The
compensation is being sought on behalf of Rebecca Crothall by her mother Jacqueline Crothall.
Twenty-year old Rebecca developed cerebral palsy after being starved of oxygen before she was born at Winchester Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust.
At the time Jacqueline was pregnant with twins and evidence indicated there was a problem with their hearts, according to the writ.
Hospital staff allowed the labour to continue which resulted in one twin being stillborn and Rebecca developing cerebral palsy.
Her condition was the result of medical negligence in considering the evidence which led to Rebecca spending twenty hours in the womb with insufficient oxygen.
A spokesperson for the trust said: "The main problem revealed by our investigation, and confirmed by the independent medical experts, lay in the failure to recognise a developing and serious situation from heart rate tracing."
The trust has agreed that the level of care Rebecca received was sub-standard and the judge is reviewing the compensation amount in July.
Updated on 15/05/2008