Girl, 11, given £7m payout after being left disabled following birth at Royal Free Hospital
Royal Free Hospital. Picture: PA/Anthony Devlin - Credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima
A young girl left with “severe disabilities” after being born at the Royal Free Hospital will receive more than £7million in compensation.
The 11-year-old was born with meningitis at the hospital in Hampstead and was left with cerebral palsy. She has to use a wheelchair and a communication aid to speak.
Lawyers on her behalf sued the Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, alleging negligence caused her lifelong disabilities.
Today, the trust’s lawyers agreed to settle the case on the basis of 65 per cent of the full value of the girl’s claim, without making any admission of liability.
Mr Justice Foskett approved the settlement – which has an estimated total value of just over £7m – saying it was “sensible” for both sides.
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He described the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as a “real character” and paid tribute to her parents and wider family for the care they had lavished upon her.
The judge said the money “will not meet all her future needs but will go a very long way to helping the family to deal with her very difficult disabilities”.
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The young girl’s barrister, Christopher Wilson-Smith QC, said her parents have been “extraordinary” and have given her “as normal an upbringing as possible”.
John Whitting QC, for the trust, said the girl had “severe disabilities” and praised her family for the “quite exceptional care” they have given her.
As a result of the deal, the girl will receive a £3m lump sum as well as index-linked and tax-free payments to cover the costs of her care for life.
Those payments will start at £134,000-a-year until she is 18 before rising to £172,000-a-year, Mr Justice Foskett told London’s High Court today.
