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CWJ client receives £5.9 million settlement over 'wrongful birth'

In 2017 the press stated that the NHS had paid out £70 million to parents of disabled babies who say they would have had terminations had they known of the disabilities earlier.  The CWJ team of medical negligence solicitors have assisted a couple with such a claim and settled out of court at £5.9 million. 

Our client gave birth to a child with Down’s Syndrome in 2008. In her claim, she argued that she had not been offered screening for Down’s, and that had she been offered it, she would have accepted, and a diagnosis of Down’s and a decision to terminate the pregnancy would have been made.

The obstetric records contained an electronic entry indicating that our client had rejected the offer of screening, which the Defendant sought to rely on, but this single document contradicted other relevant records which indicated that no offer of screening was ever made. The case went to a trial on liability in 2014 and the Judge found in favour of our client.  The Defendant quite quickly conceded causation following the trial on liability by accepting our client's evidence as to what she would have done, and that screening is likely to have indicated that the baby had Down's. 

The Quantum Claim was brought on the basis of care for the entire life of the child. Initially the Defendant put forward a counter schedule of under £2m on the basis that compensation should only cover losses until the child turned 25 when his full time education would end. This proposal was rejected and the case headed towards trial but at a joint settlement meeting the Defendant conceded that their argument regarding damages only to the age of 25 was wrong at law and, having initially made an offer to settle the claim at £5 million the claim eventually settled for £5.9 million.

Our personal injury department, headed up by David Greenhalgh, deal with many hundreds of injury and medical negligence claims in Kent each year. We are able to provide initial advice without charge or obligation. We recognise that many people may find it difficult to fund a personal injury claim and we are able to explore and give advice on funding any compensation claim on a no win no fee basis.To speak to David please call 01689 887887 or email david.greenhalgh@cwj.co.uk 

Although correct at the time of publication, the contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article. Please contact us for the latest legal position.