Victory: mum wins £7.1m payout for son left disabled by hospital (From Bournemouth Echo)

Firstly I wish Clare, Charlie and the family all the best for the future. This should have been resolved years ago, the problem is solicitors dragging out cases such as this to make more money, it happens every day. The laws need to be changed to reduce the time it takes to resolve compensation cases.

Disgusting that this has taken 14 years to resolved. Thankfully this child will now be safe and secure and receive the care he will require for life.
Knowing what solicitors charge for each letter they send, read and write, I dread to imagine what the legal costs of this case must be.

The fact Clare and Charlie had to wait nearly FOURTEEN years for this pay out is disgusting. Were the NHS hoping she'd let it go? That they could get away with disabling a child and not pay a penny towards compensating him and funding the care he needs??

Well done Clare for sticking to your guns and making sure the truth was heard. You seem like an amazing mum and I wish you, Charlie and your family the best for the future :)

Clare you have had a very hard 14 years you are a Mum to be proud of.I know money cant buy the health you would wish for Charlie, but I do hope it will help him in his future life, the poor lad will need finacial support together with a loving family for the rest of his life.my good wishes to you both.x

Well done Clare! You stuck to your guns for the sake of your lad and now you have got what you rightfully deserve.
We all know you would rather have not gone through any of this.

Both sad and happy all in one story.

Good luck and don't forget some go faster stripes for the wheelchair.

'BOURNEMOUTH mother is celebrating a massive £7.1million payout'.

Is it just me that thinks this is poorly worded and makes the award sound like a lottery win?

Bless them....but should have been sorted years ago ....14yrs??? shame on Bournemouth hospital
What a lovely smile he has xx

I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

wilkiemini wrote:
Bless them....but should have been sorted years ago ....14yrs??? shame on Bournemouth hospital
What a lovely smile he has xx

Exactly. Why has this poor woman been had to fight for 14 years during which time she has had all the care needs of her son to deal with. Barbaric. Bournemouth Hospital could have admitted liability. There is sonething wrong with this society.

MPK83i wrote:
I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

I for one don't care where this money comes from. This young lads prospects and future as it might have been has been taken away from him and his family due to negligence and he deserves every penny to make his difficult life as comfortable as possible. They must have struggled over the past 14 years with battered out heavy wheelchairs and the rest of the equipment/care he required. Now he can have the best whenever he needs it. Good luck to him, he deserves it.

MPK83i wrote:
I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

Hospital are insured. It is the insurance company who be paying out the money.

Fantastic that the rest of this lad's life will be made easier. 14 years is indeed a complete joke. £7m does sound an awful lot and apart from the high costs needed for the rest of his life, there is a very large compensation element here.
To put it into context, those UK parents who fight against their children being taken away and adopted and where it's subsequently found and agreed that this should never have happened due to officials negligence do not get their children back, have a lifetime of mental suffering and how much in compensation?? Zero.....

£7.1 million sounds like a lot of money and indeed it is but when you are talking about a lifetime of 24 hour support I afraid sadly it is not.

Thankfully with this payout she will never again have to think of the worry that goes through the head of every parent with a child who has a severe disability 'What will happen when i am gone?' The way the disabled have been under attack the past few years really worries me wondering what care will be available for my daughter when my wife and myself are no longer around to care for her ( there was nothing during the pregnancy to say she would be born disabled).

My nephew was born with cerebral palsy (due to mistakes during the birth) and my sister tried to make a claim but she give up in the end as they all closed ranks. Now my nephew is 23 and in a care home in Kent needing 24/7 care...........

MPK83i wrote:
I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

Think you've had your question answered, perhaps think beyond a nano second before posting perhaps..

Warm wishes to the family :)

14 years waiting is a disgrace but for me what is important is that Clare won her case and justice has been done.

I agree that the legal system drags things along because it is to their advantage, it would be interesting to see what the final legal bill for the case was! I guess we will never know.

Happy for the family but i wonder how much they would have recieved if it was sorted out earlier?

Good luck to Clare and Charlie, this should not have taken 14 years to solve.
Good luck to the other children in the family as well and to the Husband .

they deserve it, good luck to them. But, I hope it doesn't mean budget cuts and job losses for NHS staff

I think they deserve every penny ,this will also go towards his care when his parents are finding it difficult later in life and what a lovely smile good luck to the family

gileto wrote:
Fantastic that the rest of this lad's life will be made easier. 14 years is indeed a complete joke. £7m does sound an awful lot and apart from the high costs needed for the rest of his life, there is a very large compensation element here.
To put it into context, those UK parents who fight against their children being taken away and adopted and where it's subsequently found and agreed that this should never have happened due to officials negligence do not get their children back, have a lifetime of mental suffering and how much in compensation?? Zero.....

Way off subject and wrong.

They base the payout on the cost of care for life not 'compensation'; this is not America.

This should never have taken fourteen years - no discussion!

But once again we seem to be missing the issue of accountability. The NHS is funded by us, This compensation will be paid for by us (Insurer maybe now, but watch the future premiums). So everbody looses?

Not quite, the Lawyers will have done very nicely - at our NHS expense.

The NHS employees and management responsible and who should have been accountable here - directly or indirectly? What has happened to them? We can guess, somewhere between nothing and promotion - on past evidence!

A dreadful, expensive and avoidable tragedy all round.

ASM wrote:
they deserve it, good luck to them. But, I hope it doesn't mean budget cuts and job losses for NHS staff

As alreay posted, they insure against this. Worst case scenario the cost of their indemnity insurance goes up.

Better result than having to fund his care for the next 60 years is it not?

I always think it is odd that people can start a sentence with a nicety then stick a massive BUT in and then say what they really mean and think no one will notice.

scrumpyjack says...
3:06pm Wed 9 Jan 13
As alreay posted, they insure against this. Worst case scenario the cost of their indemnity insurance goes up..

Might not be the case.
The insurers may not pay some or all depending on the depth of any negligence on the part of the hospital.

BIGTONE wrote:
scrumpyjack says...
3:06pm Wed 9 Jan 13
As alreay posted, they insure against this. Worst case scenario the cost of their indemnity insurance goes up..

Might not be the case.
The insurers may not pay some or all depending on the depth of any negligence on the part of the hospital.

One way or another we, the public, will pay and I am pleased to make my contribution. It would be very interesting to know the circumstances which contributed to the negligence of the NHS. These things should not be swept under the carpet. If individuals made errors then justice should prevail. If a motorist causes a crash because of carelessness then he will be prosecuted for the offence. Why not in this case.

Cosmic Crusader wrote:

BIGTONE wrote:
scrumpyjack says...
3:06pm Wed 9 Jan 13
As alreay posted, they insure against this. Worst case scenario the cost of their indemnity insurance goes up..

Might not be the case.
The insurers may not pay some or all depending on the depth of any negligence on the part of the hospital.

One way or another we, the public, will pay and I am pleased to make my contribution. It would be very interesting to know the circumstances which contributed to the negligence of the NHS. These things should not be swept under the carpet. If individuals made errors then justice should prevail. If a motorist causes a crash because of carelessness then he will be prosecuted for the offence. Why not in this case.

Agree.

MPK83i wrote:
I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

zz

Why do they have a 'maternity unit' in Bournemouth Hospital when they are so limited in what they're allowed to do there? By that I don't mean close the unit we have but make it into a PROPER maternity unit, where women can have epidurals, caesarians and whatever they need. Yes the birthing rooms are lovely to look round but when your waters break with merconium in them (I live a mile from Bmth Hospital), you don't want to be told you now have to go to Poole hosp in an ambulance as "we don't have the emergency facilities here". Best wishes and good luck for this family, and what a lovely smiling face Charlie has. It's just a shame she's had to fight for so long.

Working closely with the NHS and seeing how the government cut backs affect those on the ground who with the best will in the world are: trying to do a good job, expected to provide a better service for an ever increasing case load, with less time and fewer resources, it does not surprise me in the least that mistakes and errors of judgement occur.

Two members of my immediate family have suffered because of avoidable medical negligence, not to mention the knock on effect on all of the other family members.

The only way to stop this is to push them into having an inquiry - and how do we achieve that? See the headline.

Well done Claire, let's hope you and your family will enjoy a lot less stress now the fighting is over. That is the fight to win your case and the constant fighting for the services your son should receive without your having to pressurise the other cash strapped government departments.

spooki wrote:
Why do they have a 'maternity unit' in Bournemouth Hospital when they are so limited in what they're allowed to do there? By that I don't mean close the unit we have but make it into a PROPER maternity unit, where women can have epidurals, caesarians and whatever they need. Yes the birthing rooms are lovely to look round but when your waters break with merconium in them (I live a mile from Bmth Hospital), you don't want to be told you now have to go to Poole hosp in an ambulance as "we don't have the emergency facilities here". Best wishes and good luck for this family, and what a lovely smiling face Charlie has. It's just a shame she's had to fight for so long.

Careful what you wish for, it seems that the maternity unit is doomed for closure because of the merger with Poole.

gileto wrote:
Fantastic that the rest of this lad's life will be made easier. 14 years is indeed a complete joke. £7m does sound an awful lot and apart from the high costs needed for the rest of his life, there is a very large compensation element here.
To put it into context, those UK parents who fight against their children being taken away and adopted and where it's subsequently found and agreed that this should never have happened due to officials negligence do not get their children back, have a lifetime of mental suffering and how much in compensation?? Zero.....

Where is it found and agreed? Facebook? What utter nonsense

grumpyolddear wrote:
Working closely with the NHS and seeing how the government cut backs affect those on the ground who with the best will in the world are: trying to do a good job, expected to provide a better service for an ever increasing case load, with less time and fewer resources, it does not surprise me in the least that mistakes and errors of judgement occur. Two members of my immediate family have suffered because of avoidable medical negligence, not to mention the knock on effect on all of the other family members. The only way to stop this is to push them into having an inquiry - and how do we achieve that? See the headline. Well done Claire, let's hope you and your family will enjoy a lot less stress now the fighting is over. That is the fight to win your case and the constant fighting for the services your son should receive without your having to pressurise the other cash strapped government departments.

1. It happened 14 years ago so what have the current cuts got to do with it?
2. TWO members in the same family suffered from 'medical negligence'? Hmmm.

And where is Clare`s award for all the time and stress caused her in progressing what seems a straightforward case?

£7.1 million in compensation, and about time.
We should demand to see how much the health trust paid to the cabale of advisers, solicitors, as well as assorted mandarins and grandees involved in the shameful defence of this claim.
At a guess, a further £2million over 14 years?

afcb-mark wrote:

MPK83i wrote:
I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

I for one don't care where this money comes from. This young lads prospects and future as it might have been has been taken away from him and his family due to negligence and he deserves every penny to make his difficult life as comfortable as possible. They must have struggled over the past 14 years with battered out heavy wheelchairs and the rest of the equipment/care he required. Now he can have the best whenever he needs it. Good luck to him, he deserves it.

afcb-mark wrote "I for one don't care where this money comes from"

It will come from the money needed to treat patients and keep wards open.

It will mean longer waiting times, cancelled operations, shortages of nurses, patients left to suffer because nurses are too busy.

It will come in the form of cancer patients denied drugs that will keep them alive.

For all the boy's problems, in all likelyhood the net increase in suffering will be huge - and those who suffer will be people who did nothing to cause the original mistake.

Are you sure you don't care where the money comes from?

BIGTONE wrote:
scrumpyjack says...
3:06pm Wed 9 Jan 13
As alreay posted, they insure against this. Worst case scenario the cost of their indemnity insurance goes up..

Might not be the case.
The insurers may not pay some or all depending on the depth of any negligence on the part of the hospital.

The thing is, insurers always charge more from the NHS overall than they pay out. If it wasn't a net loss from the NHS they wouldn't make a profit.

It's not like car insurance where lots of people pay separately - the NHS has to foot the bill and always makes a loss. From what hear, they underwrite it themselves because to insure it would be even more expensive.

scrumpyjack wrote:

grumpyolddear wrote:
Working closely with the NHS and seeing how the government cut backs affect those on the ground who with the best will in the world are: trying to do a good job, expected to provide a better service for an ever increasing case load, with less time and fewer resources, it does not surprise me in the least that mistakes and errors of judgement occur. Two members of my immediate family have suffered because of avoidable medical negligence, not to mention the knock on effect on all of the other family members. The only way to stop this is to push them into having an inquiry - and how do we achieve that? See the headline. Well done Claire, let's hope you and your family will enjoy a lot less stress now the fighting is over. That is the fight to win your case and the constant fighting for the services your son should receive without your having to pressurise the other cash strapped government departments.

1. It happened 14 years ago so what have the current cuts got to do with it?
2. TWO members in the same family suffered from 'medical negligence'? Hmmm.

True, one is disabled and the other is mercifully deceased after suffering needless pain inflicted by a nurse.

More money should be invested in staffing and trianing to avoid these cases.

Had the Trust admitted liability earlier, I'm sure the costs of this case would have been much lower, not to mention the unnecessary stress for this family

s-pb2 wrote:

gileto wrote: Fantastic that the rest of this lad's life will be made easier. 14 years is indeed a complete joke. £7m does sound an awful lot and apart from the high costs needed for the rest of his life, there is a very large compensation element here. To put it into context, those UK parents who fight against their children being taken away and adopted and where it's subsequently found and agreed that this should never have happened due to officials negligence do not get their children back, have a lifetime of mental suffering and how much in compensation?? Zero.....

Where is it found and agreed? Facebook? What utter nonsense

thanks s-pb2, I can't stand Facebook so I don't use it.
Life's lessons have taught me it's infinitely more credible to pass comment on something that the writer knows DOES happen than comment on something that you would like to believe doesn't/shouldn't.
Your own eyes don't lie.
Some social services practices would not be believed or tolerated if properly opened up for scrutiny/made public. As this article highlights, an underfunded NHS is fully held to account - so surely those professionals entrusted with child protection should be too??
For those interested (http://www.publicat
ions.parliament.uk/p
a/cm201213/cmselect/
cmeduc/137/137vw01.h
tm) comments made here and ALL evidence collated should NOT be ignored if the lessons of Baby P are to be forgotten and Social Services (underpaid and overworked, inevitably) credibility restored.

sorry, meant 'Baby P NOT to be forgotten'

£7million is £35 quid a head a year of 20,000 sympathetic taxpayers 20% of the constituency for 10 years...

Wouldn't you give him £35 quid???

For sure the money gets spent on research and support teams in the NHS and across the world for the lifetime no just of him but also of patients like him..

For sure his body is growing and his brain is regrowing too.. every cell in 7 years will have replenished itself...

People who have been saved from the hospital incineration department after being strangled by their umbilical cord have gone on to be top try scorers and musicians and competed for places at oxford..

Stephen Hawkins has gone on to publish metaphysics books from the wheel chair and Lewis Hamiltons brother reported has driven in motorsport with cerebral palsy...

For sure he like you enjoys his food and the architecture the weather and the sunsets.. and for sure he likes to watch TV and look on google maps and explore the world as much as possible..
and dream of the possibilities of life like you do...

People find it intellectually interesting to save lives and restore capabilities and support people who want to have a go at doing interesting things... and they get the money rather than people motivated by marxist darwinism and lack of collective accounting abilities!!!

Hessenford wrote:

spooki wrote:
Why do they have a 'maternity unit' in Bournemouth Hospital when they are so limited in what they're allowed to do there? By that I don't mean close the unit we have but make it into a PROPER maternity unit, where women can have epidurals, caesarians and whatever they need. Yes the birthing rooms are lovely to look round but when your waters break with merconium in them (I live a mile from Bmth Hospital), you don't want to be told you now have to go to Poole hosp in an ambulance as "we don't have the emergency facilities here". Best wishes and good luck for this family, and what a lovely smiling face Charlie has. It's just a shame she's had to fight for so long.

Careful what you wish for, it seems that the maternity unit is doomed for closure because of the merger with Poole.

Exactly the problem! We need a DECENT maternity unit, not to close the one we almost have. It's obvious we need it, when I went to Poole they were so busy I had to wait 10 hours to be induced as they didn't have any spare rooms. Some women were being sent to Southampton to get decent emergency maternity care. It's not right. Some situations need to be dealt with ASAP by the right medical staff as this story proves.

andyrwebman wrote:

afcb-mark wrote:

MPK83i wrote:
I think it's great that it has been solved and hope the money goes some way to help the whole family deal and mve on. BUT, 7 million of whos money? Where is that being taken from,who will now lose out because of that money?

I for one don't care where this money comes from. This young lads prospects and future as it might have been has been taken away from him and his family due to negligence and he deserves every penny to make his difficult life as comfortable as possible. They must have struggled over the past 14 years with battered out heavy wheelchairs and the rest of the equipment/care he required. Now he can have the best whenever he needs it. Good luck to him, he deserves it.

afcb-mark wrote "I for one don't care where this money comes from"

It will come from the money needed to treat patients and keep wards open.

It will mean longer waiting times, cancelled operations, shortages of nurses, patients left to suffer because nurses are too busy.

It will come in the form of cancer patients denied drugs that will keep them alive.

For all the boy's problems, in all likelyhood the net increase in suffering will be huge - and those who suffer will be people who did nothing to cause the original mistake.

Are you sure you don't care where the money comes from?

Please substantiate this statement.

Bye Bye silly person