Children's medical negligence

Many claims for medical negligence compensation involving children relate to the treatment provided to newborns and are commonly related to the circumstances surrounding their delivery: usually a lack of oxygen/oxygen starvation or injury caused by instrumental delivery, with inappropriate application or excessive traction when using forceps or ventouse. Such medical negligence claims often involve brain injury, cerebral palsy, skull fractures, Erbs palsy and facial palsy.

Find out more about medical negligence claims for newborns.

Most other medical negligence claims in children arise from errors in treatment and delays in diagnosing childhood conditions/illnesses and infections such as septicaemia, meningitis and osteomyelitis, where prompt diagnosis and treatment is essential if permanent disability or death is to be avoided.

Young children are particularly at risk of injury arising out of delayed diagnosis and incorrect treatment as obviously they often can’t communicate what is wrong and symptoms are missed.

Compensation claims for medical negligence may arise out of:

• Failures to promptly diagnose and treat infections such as meningitis, septicaemia, osteomyelitis and tuberculosis.
• Administration of incorrect drugs and drug doses which can result in permanent disability and sometimes death.
• Failures to appreciate the significance of headaches and/or deteriorating sight leading to delays in diagnosis of tumours.
• Failure to properly treat fractures. The child’s skeleton continues to grow and any mistakes in fixing fractures can have long-term consequences with uneven or abnormal bone growth.

Making a medical negligence claim for a child or newborn is a straightforward process, we guarantee to you that there will be no cost to you at all, whatever the outcome.

Find out how to make a medical negligence claim.

How much compensation will I receive?

We can give you a good idea of the likely range of medical negligence compensation you will receive on behalf of your child when we first talk to you. Once we have investigated your case and can fully assess the effects of the medical negligence we can prepare a detailed valuation of your claim for compensation.