What price is quality of life?
baby would have been delivered earlier
by emergency caesarean section and the
brain injury would have been avoided.
So now Jan’s parents have a child whose
ability to walk, talk and live independently
as an adult is severely impaired. While
Jan is still small they are managing
relatively well, with the help of family and
friends, to look after her needs, although
difficulty in finding adequate child care
means that both parents have had to
cut their working hours to ensure round
the clock care. Although early visits to
their home by various experts in care,
occupational therapy, education and
assistive technology offer some very
useful advice and guidance, it is almost
impossible to put a figure on potential
costs of future care needs until Jan is
at least 7 years old. The process of
working out what amount would be
reasonable and sufficient just cannot
be rushed until certain developmental
milestones are reached.
Our team of specialist legal advisers works hard to help some
of the many families struggling to manage the complex needs
of a young child living with demanding physical, emotional and
learning difficulties suffered as a result of medical negligence
around the time of birth. Parents have enough to deal with day
to day in the here and now, so our experience in identifying how
future specialist care can be found and funded offers much
needed reassurance.
It can take several years to investigate
fully the series of events and particular
circumstances surrounding a difficult
pregnancy and delivery. This involves
painstaking analysis of copious medical
records, obtaining detailed witness
statements from all involved and
commissioning relevant assessments
and reports from a range of independent
medical, educational, care and
psychological experts, to name but a
few. Piecing together the evidence, then
analysing the merits of a potential claim,
takes time, skill, diligence and forensic
attention to detail.
If the Hospital Trust in question admits
liability (or is found by a Judge to be
liable) for the injury, the next stage of
negotiating an adequate and reasonable
financial settlement can begin in earnest.
The process of gauging just how much a
child’s quality of life has been impacted
by the negligence, and whether or not
particular aspects are likely to improve,
deteriorate or stay the same over time,
can be agonisingly slow. MWB has
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established long-standing, professional
relationships with some of the most
respected, independent medico-legal
specialists in the UK, seeking their
opinions and expertise to build a picture
of a young client’s needs now and in
the future. Calculating how much it will
cost to fund the complex and evolving
support network as the child matures
into adulthood is key, and must be
undertaken with extreme thoughtfulness
and care.
To get an idea of some of the things
that need to be taken into account, let’s
think about the story of an imaginary 4
year old girl we will call “Jan”. In the later
months of pregnancy and early stages of
labour, Jan’s mother was not monitored
properly. The doctors and midwives
caring for her missed vital signs that Jan
was not getting enough oxygen in the
womb and as a result she was sad ly born
with a brain injury known as cerebral
palsy. Had reasonable procedure been
followed correctly, and the warning signs
been picked up at the right time, the
The extent of some of Jan’s educational
support needs only starts to become
clearer as she goes to school. Certain
electronic learning aids can make a lot of
difference to her ability to communicate,
contribute, create and participate. At
home, meanwhile, as she gets older and
heavier, helping her to get in and out of
her bed, wheelchair and the family car
will be more of a challenge. It becomes
apparent that Jan’s mother is already
developing back problems and neither
she nor Jan’s father are getting any
younger. They will need additional help
and equipment as the years go by to
keep up with many of the physical and
emotional demands that a young adult
with special needs brings to the family.
Can the family’s current home
be adapted to accommodate her
wheelchair, or might they need to move
to another location with more accessible,
ground floor living space for Jan? Think
also about specially adapted transport
so Jan can get from A to B, as well as
any therapies to maintain or improve
her physical, emotional and mental
wellbeing. What is the likely cost of
these things? Of course thought also
needs to be given to what would happen
to Jan if both her parents were to die
before her. Enough funds need to be
factored into any damages settlement to
see her through until the end of her life.
Jan’s legal team at MWB will help
her family to navigate complex
considerations such as these, offering
experience, an objective eye and
sensitive advice on prioritising and
managing each stage of the process.
By Carole Hewitt