NHS to Face Increased Costs After Supreme Court Ruling on Childbirth Negligence
The NHS will need to allocate more funds to settle lawsuits involving negligence during childbirth, following a landmark Supreme Court decision that lawyers have hailed as correcting a "historic injustice." This ruling, delivered on Wednesday, allows children in England who suffer catastrophic injuries at birth to claim damages for future earnings they would have otherwise earned, a significant shift in legal practice.
Historic Legal Precedent Overturned
The Supreme Court's decision on "lost years damages" means that children with shortened life expectancies due to birth injuries can now recover compensation for their inability to work. This overturns more than 40 years of legal precedent established by the High Court in the 1981 case of Croke v Wiseman, which previously barred such claims. James Drydale, the lawyer representing a girl known only as CCC, stated, "The supreme court today has put right an historic injustice which set injured children's rights in negligence cases at a lesser level than those of an adult."
CCC suffered severe brain damage in Sheffield in 2015 after being deprived of oxygen due to midwife errors during her mother's labour. She has cerebral palsy, cannot eat, walk, or talk, and is expected to live only until age 29. In 2015, the High Court awarded her parents a £6.8 million lump sum and annual payments of £350,000 for 24/7 care, but denied compensation for her lost future earnings. Her family pursued a "leapfrog appeal" directly to the Supreme Court, where five justices upheld the appeal by a majority of four to one.
Implications for NHS and Compensation
Drydale emphasized that this ruling will make childbirth negligence cases more expensive for the NHS to settle, leading to increased compensation for affected children. "Undoubtedly, there will be more compensation for the NHS in future in cases where children have had their life shortened as a result of being a victim of negligence," he said. The High Court will now determine the family's request for an additional £800,000 in damages, based on average earnings and pension sums between ages 29 and 85, reflecting what CCC would have earned.
Paul Whiteing, chief executive of the patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, noted that while this judgment adds to the NHS's clinical negligence costs, preventing harm remains the most effective way to reduce impact, as highlighted by parliament's public accounts committee. Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, called it a "monumental ruling" for children with life-changing injuries from medical negligence.
Broader Context and Concerns
This ruling comes amid growing concerns over the rising cost of medical negligence to the NHS in England, with liabilities reaching £60 billion, largely due to childbirth errors. The decision aligns with efforts to ensure fair compensation for victims while highlighting the need for improved patient safety measures in healthcare settings.
