Family of girl left brain-damaged at birth accept £28m NHS payout

Key points

• The family of a girl left brain-damaged at birth have agreed to accept £28m in damages after the NHS trust involved admitted that its mistakes led to the tragedy.
• Barking, Havering and Redbridge university hospitals NHS trust failed to monitor the baby’s heart rate while her mother was in labour or ask an obstetrician to review the case, either of which might have led to the girl being born in a healthy condition.
• The girl, who is six, suffered severe hypoxia-ischaemia – loss of oxygen to her brain – while she was being born at Queen’s hospital in Romford, east London, in July 2019. That left her badly disabled.
• She has epilepsy, experiences unpredictable seizures and is expected to lose mobility throughout her life.
• She will need lifelong care to help with her cognitive and language impairments.