A little girl who was born “apparently lifeless” at Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital is to receive more than £3.5 million compensation from the NHS.
Medics at the hospital’s birthing centre fought to resuscitate the baby girl, but she suffered catastrophic oxygen starvation and brain damage.
The now ten-year-old was delivered with her umbilical cord wrapped tightly round her neck, London’s High Court was told, and now requires “complex care”.
At a hearing on Tuesday, January 17, barrister David Westcott QC said the waters of the girl’s mother had broken days before she arrived at the hospital.
Had the baby girl been properly monitored in her mother’s womb, the disaster could have been averted, he claimed.
The Aneurin Bevan University Health Board accepted the mother should have been moved to the Royal Gwent Hospital to give birth.
But it denied responsibility for the girl’s injuries, saying they occurred long before her mother even arrived at the birthing centre.
However, following negotiations outside court, the board agreed to a financial settlement of the youngster’s case.
She will receive a lump sum of over £1.4m, plus index-linked and tax-free annual payments to cover the costs of her care for life.
Those payments will start at about £140,000-a-year, before rising to over £175,000-a-year as her care needs increase.
The settlement – agreed on a two-thirds liability basis – has a capitalised value of nearly £3.5m.
Approving the deal, Mr Justice Foskett said medics had put “considerable effort” into saving the baby girl’s life.
But she was left with severe cerebral palsy and would require round the clock care for the rest of her life.
Experts had made “rather gloomy predictions” that she might not live beyond the age of 27.
Her disabilities and care needs were “complex to say the least”, but the judge said he hoped she would live far longer than that.
The devoted care given to her by her parents was “nothing short of remarkable”, he added.
“This kind of selfless devotion deserves the highest praise,” he told the court.
“A story like this is immensely uplifting and there is a lesson here for everyone in what this couple have been prepared to do”.
Given the girl’s acute vulnerability, the judge ordered that nothing must be published that could identify the girl or members of her family.
A spokeswoman for Anuerin Bevan University Health Board said: “We are pleased that we have been able to reach a settlement in this case and we hope that this will help the little girl and her family.”
Caerphilly Miners’ Hospital closed in November 2011 with services transferred to Ysbyty Ysrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach.