Medical negligence claim hits High Court
A medical negligence claim has been launched by the family of a 13-year-old girl who has been left with permanent and disabling personal injury, following a bout of chickenpox she suffered as an 11-month old.
The injury lawyer representing the family has submitted a writ at London's High Court detailing the grounds for the family's case.
It alleges that the girl suffered a "bacterial super infection" as a direct result of the failure of hospital officials to diagnose a secondary infection that stemmed from the chickenpox virus.
Eventually, this "super" infection spread to the bone in one of the girl's legs, which is now 5cm shorter than the other.
It is argued that the girl will now need a series of complex and traumatic operations on her legs and that her educational and employment prospects will be affected adversely.
Commenting on the claim, the girl's grandmother said that when the family needed help: "The response was Give the child Calpol if her temperature has not cooled down'. We didn't need Calpol, we needed help," she said.
Updated on 26/05/2010