Is the NHS Denying Blame for Your Injuries? You Can Still Achieve a Settlement

Just because the NHS denies blame for injuries suffered by a patient does not mean that it will not pay compensation. In one such case, lawyers representing a young girl achieved a £3 million settlement of her clinical negligence claim even though medical staff insisted that they had done nothing wrong.

The girl suffered brain damage after she was starved of oxygen during her birth and faces a lifetime of serious disability. She is confined to a wheelchair, has only limited speech and requires around-the-clock care. Her lawyers claimed that there had been a negligent delay in her delivery and launched proceedings on her behalf against the NHS trust which ran the hospital where she was born.

The trust denied liability. However, following negotiations, it agreed to pay her 55 per cent of the full value of her claim. The settlement is made up of a £1 million lump sum, plus index-linked and tax-free payments to cover the costs of her care for the rest of her life. The total award is valued at £3.05 million.