A young boy from Harrogate has been awarded almost £10m in a payout from the NHS after medical errors at his birth left him severely disabled.
Medical staff failed to spot that Kit vanBerckel, who was born 10 days overdue, was suffering distress before his birth in 2008. Medical staff failed to spot that Kit van Berckel, who was born 10 days overdue, was suffering distress before his birth in 2008. The High Court heard that staff had failed to correctly interpret and act on a pathological CTG pre-birth heart scan. As a result of this Kit, who is now six years old, was born at Harrogate District Hospital, without a heartbeat and needed resuscitating. Soon after his birth he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which means he can’t sit without help, can’t move on his own, is unable to feed himself and can’t speak.
The £9.872 million payment awarded to the family will provide lifelong care and rehabilitation for Kit. The youngster, who is a pupil at Richard Taylor School in Harrogate, needs to use eye gaze technology and other hi-tech systems to communicate with his classmates.
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Filed under: Hospital, NHS, NHS Blunders, Cerebral Palsy, Medical errors