Millions for boy brain damaged during birth

A boy who suffered near-fatal brain damage at birth because of a doctor's negligence has been awarded compensation that could run into millions of pounds.
 
At the High Court in London, Mr Justice Holroyde heard that seven-year-old Oscar Riches would have been unharmed if he had been born by emergency caesarean at Eastbourne District General Hospital.
 
East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust has now agreed a payment of GBP1.1m and annual payments.
 
The court heard Oscar now suffers catastrophic cerebral palsy, with little mobility, severe cognitive deficit, impaired vision, epilepsy and painful muscle spasms and will need constant care as long as he lived, which was likely to be into his 20s.
 
Oscar's counsel, James Badenoch QC, said that East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust had admitted liability because of the behaviour of the locum obstetric registrar from overseas who grossly mismanaged his birth.
 
He explained that this was effectively an admission of medical negligence against the doctor and not a system failure, whilst acknowledging that the midwives were very concerned and did seek to influence the doctor to take prompt and effective action.
 
Mr Badenoch said that before Oscar's birth, the heart-rate trace showed that he was in great jeopardy but not yet damaged. However the locum inexplicably insisted that Mrs Riches should continue in labour and then failed in a ventouse delivery.
 
Eventually extracted by forceps, Oscar was severely asphyxiated with the umbilical cord tightly around his neck and did not breathe spontaneously for 20 minutes.
 
It is believed that the locum has not worked in the UK since but his present whereabouts are unknown.