Woman who suffered brain injury as a newborn awarded funds for lifetime care - £12 million in compensation

“Maya” 33

When Maya became unwell as a newborn baby, hospital doctors failed to carry out the appropriate tests to determine what was wrong. As a result, a dangerous but treatable condition was not diagnosed, and this caused Maya to suffer a catastrophic brain injury. Maya was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy affecting all four of her limbs, as well as a visual impairment and learning disabilities. After Maya’s family turned to JMW for advice we investigated what happened at the hospital, obtaining the answers they needed and securing a compensation settlement of £12 million to provide the lifelong care and support that Maya requires.

What happened?

Maya was born eight weeks prematurely and whilst she was in a healthy condition, she did require careful monitoring by the neonatal team at the hospital, as with all similar babies.

The plan was to bottle fee Maya but as she struggled with this, a decision was made to tube feed her to keep her blood sugar levels stable.

When Maya was a few days old, the hospital team caring for her noticed that she was jaundiced and she was placed under a phototherapy lamp for a day to treat this. A few days later, after one of her tube feeds, her mother Anna noticed that she had turned blue. Anna called for help and a nurse arrived and found that Maya had stopped breathing. The nurse managed to resuscitate Maya, who then had an episode of significant vomiting.

After Maya’s’ breathing incident she deteriorated and was put on a ventilator. She was taken to the special care baby unit and given antibiotics. During this time, Maya experienced seizures. Problems had occurred with Maya’s heart rate and at times it was very low. Checks had also shown that she was cold with a low body temperature, another worrying sign that all was not well with her condition. Blood tests were carried out, as well as chest x-ray, but critically, a test for her blood sodium levels was missed. If this test had been included as it ought to have been, it would have been revealed that Maya’s sodium levels were dangerously low. Blood sodium levels need to be maintained at a healthy level or a condition called periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) can occur: an irreversible brain injury.

Testing blood sodium levels is mandatory in babies who are premature and show signs of illness, so that treatment can be provided to ensure they avoid injury.

Approximately 24 hours after Maya’s deterioration a check on her blood sodium levels was done and treatment was provided. However, by this point, Maya’s brain had already been damaged.

Doctors managed to stabilise Maya’s condition with drugs and once this had been achieved they were happy for Maya to be discharged home. However before letting her family take her, doctors said she should undergo an MRI scan of her brain. After the scan, Maya’s family was given the heartbreaking news that she has suffered a brain injury. This was extremely difficult for them to hear and they were understandably concerned about Maya’s future. Anna and Maya’s father Ged could not understand how she could have been healthy at birth, but whilst under the care of specialist doctors at the hospital, had sustained a brain injury. They reached out to JMW for support and our brain injury experts in the medical negligence team took on Maya’s case.

JMW’s investigation

Our compassionate team listened to Maya’s story and requested all her medical records and discharge notes. We were concerned that something had gone wrong with her monitoring in the post-natal period for her to suffer such a significant injury and set about investigating what steps had been and what may have been missed.

We enlisted the help of independent medical experts working in the fields of neonatal care and paediatrics and asked them to prepare detailed reports on Maya’s treatment and whether they believed there had been any negligence. The experts agreed that the care for Maya’s low sodium levels had been poor and that if the right tests had been carried out, together with urgent treatment, she would have avoided the PVL brain injury.

After we set out a strong case against the hospital it admitted that there had been failures in care, Initially it did not admit that the mistakes had caused Maya’s brain injury but we continued to fight on her behalf and due to the strength of our evidence, the hospital later admitted that the negligent treatment was what had caused the injury.

Brain Injury Compensation Awarded

After winning Maya’s case we were able to push ahead with negotiating the amount of compensation she would require for the rest of her life. The PVL brain injury had caused a neurological condition called cerebral palsy, which affects all four of her limbs. The condition causes weakness and stiffness and poor muscle control and Maya is unable to walk or attend to any of her own personal care needs. This means that she is unable to live independently and requires specialist carers with her 24-hours a day. We factored the cost of Maya’s care into her compensation claim.

Maya also needs a house that is specially adapted to her needs and disabilities and we ensured she was awarded enough compensation to enable her family to purchase a suitable property.

JMW’s aim was to ensure that every single area that Maya requires support with to be as independent and comfortable as possible was covered by her compensation. This also included therapy, equipment, and aids, the additional cost of going on holiday, and of course financial security given she will not be able to work for a living.

The settlement of £12 million across Maya’s lifetime has provided for all of this and has given her parents peace of mind that she will be taken care of for the rest of her life.

Mark Havenhand, a partner at JMW specialising in brain injury caused by medical negligence who settled Maya’s case, said: