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Hospital admits causing birth injuries to Kendal girl |
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26 October 2007 |
A hospital has admitted being responsible for the brain injuries suffered by a Kendal girl during her birth six years ago.
Iris Brooks was born in August 2001 at the Helme Chase maternity unit at the Westmorland general hospital in Kendal.
A hospital has admitted being responsible for the brain injuries suffered by a Kendal girl during her birth six years ago.
Iris Brooks was born in August 2001 at the Helme Chase maternity unit at the Westmorland general hospital in Kendal. Her mother, Charlotte Brooks, had gone to the unit to be induced, but when her labour began medical staff experienced difficulties in delivering her child.
The birth was delayed and when iris was born she was in a poor state. She needed immediate resuscitation but did not breathe of her own volition for more than 25 minutes.
Soon afterwards she was transferred to Lancaster Royal Infirmary where she began having seizures was later diagnosed as suffering from severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. She is now entirely dependent on others for all aspects of her personal care.
In May this year after negotiations, the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust, which manages the maternity unit, reached an agreement with the family's lawyers concerning the liability issues of the claim.
The family's lawyer is clinical negligence specialist Sharon Allison of East Anglian based lawyers Kester Cunningham John.
'Now that we have agreed the liability aspects of the claim with the hospital, we need to negotiate what sum of money this represents,' Sharon Allison explains.
'Iris is profoundly injured and will need specialist round-the-clock care for the rest of her life. That will be very expensive.
'So the claim is being transferred to the Royal Courts of Justice in London, ready for trial perhaps next summer. That trial will establish exactly what financial settlement is needed to make sure that Iris can lead as comfortable life as is possible.'
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