Boy born brain-damaged at King George Hospital awarded at least �5million compensation

An eight-year-old boy who was born brain-damaged at King George Hospital has been awarded at least �5million in compensation.

The boy, who cannot be named, is “grossly physically disabled” after he was starved of oxygen in the womb in the last 20 minutes of his delivery at the hospital in Goodmayes in October 2004.

Although his intellect is “relatively spared” his QC, Angus McCullough, said the boy has “very little independent mobility” and cannot communicate beyond “just a few words and phrases”.

The boy, whose family lives in the Ilford area, was delivered by emergency caesarean section after complications developed during his mother’s labour.

At birth, he was found to be “floppy and pale”, court papers disclosed, and needed urgent resuscitation before he could breathe spontaneously.

Medics discovered that his oxygen starvation in the womb stemmed from a traumatic rupture of the maternal womb. However, the boy’s lawyers said his severe brain injuries could have been avoided had the caesarean section been pushed through more rapidly.

In court on Tuesday, Martin Porter QC, for the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust, “formally apologised” to the boy and his family for the faults surrounding his birth.

The told Mr Justice Cranston that liability was admitted and the degree of care was “exemplary”.

The trust will pay the boy a lump sum of �4,250,000, plus annual sums to provide for the costs of his care for as long as he lives.

The judge concluded: “I would like to express my best wishes for his best future, and to commend his parents who have dedicated themselves to his care at the expense of their own health”.