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FB recovered £4,000,000

FB who was 13 months old at the time had been unwell for a number of days, she had been lethargic, sick, taking little fluid and not really eating.  Her mother had contacted the out of hours GP on numerous occasions and was seen by D1 during the evening of Sunday 28 September 2003.

The GP reassured FB’s parents and left.  However shortly before 4.30am in the morning FB had what was described as having an “eye rolling episode” and her mother called the emergency services.  FB was taken to the Hospital in an ambulance.  Ambulance records state “on examination eyes rolling … mum says patient v lethargic.”

She was seen by an A&E SHO, Dr R.  The case against the hospital was that Dr R failed to take an adequate history and failed to carry out an adequate examination.  Had this been done it would have led to a referral to the paediatric team and FB would have, after further investigation, been commenced on antibiotics, at a stage where they would have been effective.  Sadly, this was not the case and FB was sent home.

Later the same day FB returned to hospital and intravenous antibiotics were administered.  Unfortunately, FB developed pneumococcal meningitis and sustained irreversible brain damage and deafness.

The High Court Judge found in favour of the Defendants. We, however, successfully appealed his decision in the Court of Appeal with all three judges finding in our client’s favour.

Following the successful appeal, the parties arranged a round table meeting and the case settled for £4,000,000.