Olive Lewin, partner in the leading clinical negligence department at Leigh Day & Co, has recently succeeded in settling a claim for a client who lost his fingers as a result of a hospital error, soon after he was born.

Our client was born prematurely in 1999 at St Mary’s Hospital in London.  A few days after he was born an intravenous line was put into his right hand. Unfortunately the catheter had been placed incorrectly in the ulnar artery and our client developed ischaemic necrosis (tissue death because of impaired blood supply), of the right fingers.  Sadly, despite treatment, all four fingers and part of the thumb eventually auto-amputated (fell away naturally).
 
The St Mary’s Hospital Trust admitted that it had made a mistake and the clinical negligence lawyers involved in the case then had to calculate how to assess what the amount of the claim should be.  To do this the team commissioned  expert reports in the field of hand surgery, occupational therapy, and physiotherapy. 
 
The Trust eventually settled the case for £180,000 that will allow our client’s family to buy specialist equipment, and he was also compensated for his pain and suffering and handicap on the job market.
 
For more information please contact Olive Lewin on 020 7650 1200.