§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2010

London Strategic Health Authority v Whiston

[2010] EWCA Civ 195·Court of Appeal (Civil Division)·5 March 2010

A man born in 1974 with cerebral palsy sued in 2006, saying he only learned in late 2005 that a junior doctor had persisted with forceps for around half an hour. The Court of Appeal held he should reasonably have looked into the cause much earlier, but still let the case go ahead.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Cerebral Palsy

Decided

Appeal decision

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: London Strategic Health Authority

Injury: Cerebral palsy from brain damage at birth after a prolonged forceps delivery attempt by a junior doctor in 1974

Specialty: Obstetrics · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“Weighing all the factors to which I have referred, I am satisfied that, despite the fact that the allegations of negligence relate to what happened in September 1974, it would be equitable to allow this claim to proceed.”
[2010] EWCA Civ 195 at [85] · read the full judgment

The money

No damages figure appears; the appeal decided only the time-limit issues. The Court of Appeal held the claimant should have looked into the cause years earlier, so the claim was out of time, and allowed it to proceed only by exercising its discretion.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Even a claim about a birth more than thirty years earlier can be allowed to run if a fair trial is still possible and the unfairness to the injured person outweighs the unfairness to the hospital. Being told at the time that an injury was just one of those things does not automatically stop the clock.

About cerebral palsy claims →

§ MORE CEREBRAL PALSY JUDGMENTS

Claim failed

LXLP v St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] EWHC 560 (KB)·2026·Liability decided at trial

A mother's waters broke at 27 weeks and a swab grew Group B Streptococcus resistant to erythromycin; the child argued penicillin should have been given before birth to prevent infection-related brain injury. The court held that following national rather than local guidance was not negligent and that antibiotics would not, on the evidence, have prevented the injury.

Following national guidance is a strong defence even where a hospital's own local guidance says otherwise. In premature-birth cases causation often fails because the injury would have happened regardless.

Claimant succeeded

CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] UKSC 5·2026·Appeal decision

A child left profoundly disabled by negligence at birth was refused 'lost years' damages for earnings she would have made in the years her injury cut from her life, because a 1982 Court of Appeal case barred such awards to young children. The Supreme Court (Lady Rose dissenting) overruled that rule and sent the case back for the lost-years loss to be assessed.

Claimants injured as young children whose life expectancy has been shortened can now claim for earnings in the 'lost years', on the same principles as adults. This can add substantially to catastrophic injury awards.

Claim failed

LMN (a protected party, by his mother and litigation friend PQR) v Swansea Bay University Health Board

[2025] EWHC 3402 (KB)·2025·Liability decided at trial

The claimant alleged the registrar at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, delayed delivery after a pathological CTG in a labour complicated by pre-eclampsia and an impacted fetal head. The judge found the plan of fetal blood sampling, attempted forceps and then caesarean met the standards of the day and dismissed the claim.

A poor outcome after a difficult delivery is not enough; the claimant must show specific decisions fell below acceptable practice at the time and that earlier action would have avoided the injury. The material contribution argument does not help if no negligent cause of delay is proved.

All cerebral palsy judgments →

Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0. Judgments from Find Case Law, The National Archives. Summaries are ours; amounts only where printed in the judgment.

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