A fifteen-year-old boy who was left
brain damaged after the poor treatment provided by
Southampton General Hospital when he was only a few weeks old, has been awarded £1.5 million.
He was only a tiny baby when he underwent an operation (known as a Nissen’s Fundoplication) for a birth defect that affected his intestine (sliding hiatus hernia). He was given an opiate based pain killer (Omnopon) and began to have breathing problems, a known side effect of opiate drugs. He was not monitored closely or given an antidote to the opiate when the problems started. He stopped breathing on a number of occasions.
There were also complications after the operation and a serious delay in surgical intervention resulted in the baby losing a significant proportion of his bowel. As a result his bowel does not function properly.
He stopped breathing again nine days after the initial operation. There was a negligent attempt to resuscitate him, which resulted in air being forced into his stomach instead of his lungs. This caused the gut to perforate at the site of his stitches.
The boy is now fifteen. He was left with brain damage causing learning difficulties and problems with his gross and fine motor skills.
The case was settled out of court with compensation of £1.5 million. A large proportion of the damages is to compensate him for his future loss of earnings. Despite the problems that he has been left with, he has maintained a very positive approach to life and the award will help him to achieve his potential.
He was represented by specialist
clinical negligence solicitor, Olive Lewin. For more information please call 020 7650 1276.
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