Boy left paralysed after NHS doctor used excessive force in forceps delivery wins £5.1m compensation
The lad suffered a serious spinal cord injury at King’s College Hospital
A BOY left paralysed in all four limbs after a doctor used excessive force in a forceps delivery has won £5.1million compensation.
The boy, now ten, suffered a serious spinal cord injury at King’s College Hospital in London in 2009.
A judge ruled the doctor fell “far below” the expected standard of professional care. Not only did he use "excessive force and traction", he had misjudged the baby's position in the womb and "misused" the forceps.
Mr Justice Gilbart was also “very critical” of the NHS’s refusal to admit liability, putting the family through a legal fight.
The boy will receive a £5.1 million lump sum, plus annual, index-linked payments to cover the costs of his care for life.
He will get annual payments of more than £650,000 up to the age of 19. Then they will rise to £684,000.
In his 2017 ruling, Mr Justice Gilbart said the lad depends on a tracheostomy and ventilator to survive and needs round the clock care.
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Delivered more than 10 weeks premature, his twin brother only survived for two weeks in a double tragedy for the family.
The surviving twin - referred to only as "JRM" in court - was delivered first, by forceps, and his mother said it had taken "several attempts" to pull him out.
His father said nurses in the intensive care unit told him later that "they had never seen such bad bruising on the face and chest of a baby".
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