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Brain Injuries Caused by Medical Negligence

If you or a member of your family has suffered a brain injury as the result of negligence on the part of a medical professional, you may be entitled to claim compensation.

Contact us on 0800 0328511 for sympathetic advice on your case, or by completing a claim enquiry form online.

Brain Injury
Clinical Negligence and Brain Injuries
Making a Clinical Negligence Claim
Brain Injury Compensation
Our Specialist Medical Negligence Lawyers
Successful Brain Injury Claims

Brain Injury

There are different degrees of brain injury, from more minor damage to catastrophic, affecting each individual in different ways. A brain injury may result in physical, emotional and/or cognitive problems, such as:

• Memory loss / problems
• Paralysis
• Weakness in parts of the body
• Loss of co-ordination
• Speech impairment
• Loss or impairment of vision
• Personality changes
• Sleep disturbance
• Trouble swallowing
• Problems with movement and balance
• Difficulty communicating
• Seizures
• Cognitive Impairment (difficulty with planning, reasoning, concentration etc.)

Dependent upon the severity of the damage it may be possible for the injured person to make a partial or complete recovery. In other cases however the damage is permanent and some brain injury victims are left profoundly disabled, requiring 24 hour care.

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Clinical Negligence and Brain Injuries

The term clinical negligence refers to instances where a patient is provided with medical care that falls below a reasonable standard. This may or may not cause any harm, and in some cases there can be serious consequences.

Brain injuries can occur through clinical negligence in a number of ways; as a result of a misdiagnosis, delay in diagnosis, surgical error, birth injury, failure to treat an injury or illness, or the incorrect treatment of an injury or illness. Examples include:

• Cerebral Palsy: This is a condition where an injury to the brain means someone can not control the muscles in their body in the normal way. Depending on the area of the brain that is damaged a child with cerebral palsy may not be able to walk, move, talk, eat or play in the same ways as other children. They may have hearing and learning difficulties. The damage is caused before, during or soon after birth. Many cases are unavoidable, however some are caused by clinical negligence. Often when a birth is not managed correctly and the baby is deprived of oxygen.
• Other Birth Injuries: There are other circumstances under which a baby, or mother, can suffer brain injuries at the time of birth. An example might be pre-eclampsia, which can result in the mother suffering a stroke if her symptoms of the condition are not treated.
• Overdose of Medication: Although medication is designed to help patients, if it is given in too high a dose symptoms, such as swelling on the brain, can develop and cause the patient to sustain a brain injury.
• Surgical Accidents: If a surgeon makes an error whilst operating on or near to the brain, this can cause permanent damage. Errors during surgery on other parts of the body can also result in brain injuries. An example of when brain injury could occur is if it was deprived of oxygen during any type of operation when a patient goes into cardiac arrest.
• Lack of Treatment: If a condition such as a brain tumour, brain haemorrhage, epilepsy or meningitis or encephalitis is not diagnosed and treated within a reasonable period, damage to the brain can occur when these conditions cause bleeding or swelling on the brain. A failure to provide treatment can also result in a brain injury where someone has a head injury, or in cases where a blood clot (such as a deep vein thrombosis) has developed and it travels to the brain.

It may also be possible for a clinical negligence claim to be made if there was a lack of informed consent, i.e. you were not made aware that a surgical procedure carried a risk of brain injury. However it would be necessary to prove that you would not have gone ahead with an operation / course of treatment if you were fully aware of the risks.

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Making a Clinical Negligence Claim

Clinical negligence cases can be both lengthy and complicated. The support and assistance of an experienced personal injury lawyer is invaluable. The Legal Line's lawyers are specialists in all aspects of medical negligence and can provide expert claim advice at all stages of your case.

In every case, medical evidence will be required and it is necessary to show that the person you are making a claim against owed you a duty of care and that they breached that duty of care, so the care you received fell below a reasonable standard (often described as sub-standard care). You then also have to prove that as a result of the sub-standard care you suffered an injury and that the injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the treating clinician’s actions.

Your lawyer will collate all of the necessary information and evidence in order to pursue your claim to the best possible conclusion.

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Brain Injury Compensation

There are two elements to a compensation award. The first, called general damages, is for the pain and suffering you suffered as a result of your injury and any loss of amenity you have sustained (perhaps an inability to work, drive or play sports). The award for loss of amenity can be for the period of recovery after the medical incident or to reflect the fact you may have sustained a permanent injury. In assessing the amount of damages you should receive your lawyer will take into account the amount of awards that have been awarded in cases similar to your own.

The second element of a medical negligence compensation award is known as special damage. This is to compensate you for your financial losses and aims to put you back in the same position financially, as if the brain injury had never occurred. It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to your injury so that these can be reclaimed.

An award in a clinical negligence case is to compensate you for the effects of negligent treatment, that you would not have had if the treatment had been a success.

Awards can include a payment for loss of earnings, where someone had to take time off work to recover from their injury, or if they will be unable to return to work in the future. Pension loss can also be claimed, if an absence from work meant pension contributions could not be paid, or can not be paid in the future due to an inability to work.

You can also recover compensation for the cost of personal care at home or for residential care. Transport costs, such as a modified car, housing adaptations and equipment to assist an injured person with their mobility and rehabilitation can also be recovered, as can funding for various therapies such as speech therapy and physiotherapy, if medical evidence supports the need for this treatment.

If the person is still able to work but not in the same role as before, particularly if they held a public service role such as a doctor or police officer, an extra amount may be awarded for loss of ‘congenial employment’. A court can also make a financial award to recognise that an injured worker's prospects on the open labour market may be limited.

As the process of making a claim can take time, it is sometimes necessary for the claimant to receive what is known as an ‘interim payment’ to tide them over financially until the case is fully settled and also to enable immediate payment for expensive healthcare or other personal help that may not be immediately available under the NHS or via Social Services. This could be to cover the short and long term costs of medical treatment or care, transport, or even to buy equipment required to adapt a home in the case of very serious injuries.

If a person no longer has the mental capacity to deal with their own affairs they will have a litigation friend to assist them in bringing their claim. This is often a family member. Once that person receives an award of compensation it will be paid into the Court of Protection and a Deputy will then be appointed by the Court, to look after their interests and make arrangements for the effective use of the damages they have been awarded. Your lawyer will be able to guide you through this process and will be able to put you in contact with a professional deputy, if the need arises.

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Our Specialist Medical Negligence Lawyers

At The Legal Line, our expert clinical negligence solicitors have extensive experience in recovering compensation for the victims of medical negligence and brain injuries, so can provide you with the best possible assistance. As brain injuries can have a profound effect on a person’s life and they may require ongoing rehabilitation and care, it is important to seek prompt legal advice

We can provide you with specialist advice on how to pursue your personal injury claim and collate all of the necessary evidence to achieve the best possible outcome.

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Successful Brain Injury Claims

For examples of some of the many cases fought and won by our lawyers on behalf of victims of brain injuries caused by clinical negligence, visit our news and success stories sections and see the details below:

Woman Left Disabled After Brain Haemorrhage Misdiagnosis
Substantial Compensation in Cerebral Palsy Case

• A former nurse suffered a brain injury as the result of a delay in diagnosing her brain tumour. Our lawyers acted on her behalf and recovered just under £1 million in compensation.
• When a woman’s uterus and bladder were damaged during a caesarean section, she had to have a hysterectomy and emergency surgery to repair her bladder. Unfortunately, this also led to her suffering a heart attack and stroke and she was left unable to have any more children and with permanent health problems. Her clinical negligence claim was handled by our lawyers and the case was settled for £800,000.
• The parents of a one year old child left with widespread brain damage caused by a delay in diagnosing her meningitis asked our lawyers for help in recovering compensation. When they first took their daughter to hospital with symptoms the meningitis went unnoticed and they were sent home to come back with a urine sample. By the time they returned the following day however, it was too late to avoid the devastating damage she suffered. She was awarded £1,200,000 to help provide her with the lifelong care she will need.
• A retired railway engineer was admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack. Treatment was commenced, but he received a massive drug overdose that caused fatal brain damage. The hospital admitted liability and an out of court settlement of £30,000 was reached for his widow.
• Holly Thornton who was starved of oxygen during delivery causing cerebral palsy. The hospital denied liability throughout but following a settlement conference shortly before trial, settled for £1,340,000. The award was split between a lump sum of £780,000 released immediately to fund the purchase of a specially adapted bungalow and the balance to be invested to produce an annual periodical payment commencing on Holly’s 18th birthday for care, special therapies and special needs equipment.
• We recovered damages for the parents of a child who was disabled due to the catastrophic brain injury that she suffered at the time of her birth. The brain damage was caused as a result of the midwives' negligence, and the child died shortly after her 7th birthday. The family received clinical negligence damages of £275,000.

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