Where a child will never have the capacity to manage their own affairs, no time limit runs at all.
Claimant succeeded
[2026] EWHC 2294 (KB)·2026·Damages assessed at trial
An eight-year-old brought to Frimley Park Hospital in January 2018 with severe breathing difficulty was discharged the same afternoon instead of being admitted and given steroids; the next day he had a cardiac arrest and catastrophic brain injury. The Trust admitted negligence and causation and this judgment decides disputed heads of damages.
Sending a child home from A&E with signs of life-threatening asthma, rather than admitting and treating, was admitted to be negligent. Once liability is admitted the dispute moves to how care and lost earnings should be valued.
Claimant succeeded£811,247
[2026] EWHC 657 (KB)·2026·Damages assessed at trial
The trust admitted it negligently failed to diagnose Daisy Lynch's developmental hip dysplasia at birth, so it was not picked up until she was three, by which time simple non-surgical treatment was no longer possible. She went through repeated hip operations and a total hip replacement at 22, and the court assessed her damages after an eight-day trial.
Even where liability is admitted, damages can be heavily contested, and the court can add a provisional damages order letting the claimant return for more if a specified complication later occurs. The award covered pain and suffering, lost earnings, future care and future surgery.
Claim failed
[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
[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.
Settlement approved
[2025] EWHC 1750 (KB)·2025·Settlement approved by the court
A mother attended at 37 weeks with two days of absent fetal movement and worrying heart tracings, but delivery was delayed and the baby suffered brain damage causing cerebral palsy. The court approved a settlement for the now 13-year-old child as being in her best interests.
Reduced fetal movements with abnormal monitoring call for urgent delivery. Court approval hearings for children often keep the settlement figures confidential.
Claimant succeeded
[2024] EWHC 2652 (KB)·2024·Damages assessed at trial
A child with cerebral palsy from admitted birth negligence lived in an unsuitable house with stairs, and his family sought a large interim payment to buy and adapt a suitable home. The Master applied the Eeles test, was not satisfied with the evidence for a £2 million property, but approved an interim award based on a more conservative £950,000 valuation.
Interim payments for accommodation need comparative property evidence showing the price is reasonable. Courts will approve a conservative figure rather than the family's preferred one if the evidence is thin.
Settlement approved£5.75M
[2024] EWHC 2499 (KB)·2024·Settlement approved by the court
A child born in April 2019 after an induced labour suffered fetal bradycardia and a brain injury; the Trust admitted the clinical failures by letter in April 2021. The court approved a settlement of a £5.75m lump sum plus lifelong index-linked periodical payments, worth about £16.7m in total.
Serious cerebral palsy claims are usually settled as a lump sum plus annual periodical payments for care, so the headline total depends on how long the child lives. Before approving a deal for a child the judge checks it sits within the range a court would have awarded.
Claim failed
[2024] EWHC 2023 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial
The mother's recorded history of kidney scarring was said to require consultant-led care and serial growth scans, which were not arranged; the baby was born prematurely at Solihull Hospital with brain damage. The judge held that classifying the pregnancy as low risk was within acceptable practice in 2008, so there was no breach of duty.
Antenatal risk-assessment claims turn on whether the mother's history genuinely required extra monitoring under the guidance of the time. Hindsight that scans might have helped is not the legal test.
Settlement approved£5.56M
[2024] EWHC 25 (KB)·2024·Settlement approved by the court
The baby's shoulders became stuck during delivery and manoeuvres failed, so she was deprived of oxygen and left with cerebral palsy; the Trust admitted in 2012 that it failed to deliver her with sufficient or safe speed. The court approved a settlement of about £5.56m plus lifelong periodical payments.
Shoulder dystocia claims are not only about arm injuries; a prolonged delay in freeing the baby can cause brain injury, and damages then reflect lifelong care needs. Approval judgments like this are one of the few public sources showing what such settlements are worth.
Settlement approved£2.5M
[2023] EWHC 2975 (KB)·2023·Settlement approved by the court
A 37-year-old mother suffered a cardiac arrest because intravenous fluids were not given during spinal anaesthesia just after her daughter's birth, leaving her with a brain injury; the hospital admitted liability. The court used its inherent jurisdiction to approve a settlement worth roughly £5.56m including periodical payments.
Anaesthetic errors around delivery can found a maternal negligence claim even when the baby is unharmed. Courts can approve settlements for adults with cognitive impairment even where they have not formally been found to lack capacity.
Claimant succeeded£340,000
[2023] EWHC 2986 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
The Trust admitted it missed an aortic dissection that emergency surgery would probably have cured, and settled the fatal claim for £340,000. When the widow and children later sued for psychiatric injury from witnessing the death, the Trust tried to strike that out but withdrew after discovering the earlier settlement had never been court-approved.
Fatal claims involving children need court approval of any settlement or it may not bind them. A missed aortic dissection in a chest-pain patient was accepted as negligent and fatal.
Claimant succeeded
[2023] EWHC 1921 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
The baby was born severely asphyxiated at Royal Preston Hospital after the midwife failed to detect a fetal bradycardia through proper intermittent listening to the heartbeat. Martin Spencer J found breach of duty and causation proved, so the child will recover damages to be assessed later.
Even in a low-risk labour monitored by intermittent auscultation, midwives must listen at the right times and act on a slow heartbeat. Winning on liability is only the first stage; the value of the claim is then assessed separately.
Claimant succeeded
[2023] EWHC 2719 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
Two radiologists reporting a newborn's abdominal X-rays in October 2010 did not identify or report abnormal alignment of the hips that was visible on the films. The hip dysplasia was not diagnosed until 14 months later and the court found both radiologists in breach of duty.
Radiologists must report any obvious abnormality visible on an X-ray, even if it is outside the reason the scan was ordered. A missed incidental finding can found a negligence claim.
Claimant succeeded£6.87M
[2023] EWHC 1770 (KB)·2023·Damages assessed at trial
The CTG showed a pathological trace that went unread for 50 minutes before an emergency caesarean; the child was born with severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and the Trust admitted liability in 2019. After a nine-day trial on damages, Ritchie J awarded a lump sum of about £6.87m plus care periodical payments of nearly £395,000 a year.
Where liability is admitted but the parties are far apart on the cost of care, housing and equipment, the court will hold a full quantum trial and decide each head of loss. This judgment is a rare published breakdown of a complete cerebral palsy award.
Settlement approved£9.3M
[2023] EWHC 1547 (KB)·2023·Settlement approved by the court
A low-birth-weight baby was not fed adequately overnight and his blood sugar was not checked early enough, causing hypoglycaemic brain damage; the Trust admitted liability in 2018. The court approved a £9.3m lump sum plus periodical payments and held the Trust also owed interest for accepting the offer late.
Negligence in the first days of a newborn's life, not just during labour, can produce some of the largest clinical negligence awards. If a defendant accepts a Part 36 offer late, interest for the delay can be claimed on top.
Claim failed
[2023] EWHC 1199 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
A baby born at James Cook University Hospital was discharged two days after birth and died of GBS meningitis and sepsis. The judge found only one limited breach (a missing piece of discharge advice) and that it did not cause the death because the mother would not have returned to hospital in time.
Even where a hospital gets something wrong, the claim fails unless the mistake is shown to have changed what happened. Record-keeping failings alone did not establish causation here.
Claim failed
[2023] EWHC 156 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
A three-year-old was diagnosed with tonsillitis by a GP registrar, deteriorated over the next two days and was then referred to hospital, where meningococcal meningitis was diagnosed. The court found no causative breach of duty and dismissed the claim.
Meningitis claims against GPs often fail because early symptoms genuinely resemble common childhood infections; the claimant must show both that the GP fell below a reasonable standard and that earlier referral would have changed the outcome.
Claim failed£1.4M
[2021] UKSC 21·2021·Appeal decision
A GP negligently failed to arrange proper testing, so a woman wrongly believed she did not carry the haemophilia gene and went on to have a son with haemophilia who also had autism. The Supreme Court held the GP was liable only for the haemophilia-related costs, because the purpose of the advice was to guard against that risk, not the unrelated risk of autism.
Damages are limited to losses falling within the scope of the duty the doctor undertook. Even where negligence clearly led to a child's birth, unrelated conditions that the advice was never meant to address are not recoverable.
Claimant succeeded
[2020] EWHC 1610 (QB)·2020·Liability decided at trial
A GP suspected meningitis in a floppy, feverish toddler, gave penicillin and sent her by ambulance, but hospital doctors diagnosed viral tonsillitis and sent her home. Johnson J found the paediatricians should have recognised that the antibiotic could be masking sepsis and given IV antibiotics, which would have prevented her brain injury.
Hospital doctors must take a referring GP's findings seriously, especially where treatment already given may hide the true picture. A child sent in with suspected meningitis should not be discharged on reassurance alone.
Mixed outcome
[2020] EWHC 1504 (QB)·2020·Liability decided at trial
A baby born breech by caesarean should have had a hip ultrasound within six weeks, but the appointment was not arranged until nine weeks and, after rescheduling, the scan at 17 weeks showed hip dysplasia in both hips, needing surgery. The Trust admitted breach but, shortly before trial, sought to blame the mother's missed appointment; the judge refused the late amendment.
Babies born breech need a timely hip scan, and a trust's failure to arrange one within its own protocol was admitted as negligent. Defendants cannot raise new causation arguments on the eve of trial without good reason.
Claimant succeeded
[2019] EWHC 2591 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial
The mother had accepted Down's screening at booking, but the sonographer recorded it as declined at the scan and nobody checked that she really understood and meant to refuse. The judge found the trust in breach and accepted she would have had invasive testing and a termination had the screening been done.
A patient's apparent refusal of screening must be properly checked; a quick question and a note saying declined can be negligent. Failing to offer or confirm antenatal screening can found a wrongful birth claim.
Claim failed
[2019] EWHC 2280 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial
The mother argued the consultant should not have confidently reported a normal brain structure on the anomaly scan when the images were unclear. The judge accepted the consultant had scanned carefully and that a responsible body of specialists would have reached the same view, so negligence was not proved.
A missed abnormality on an antenatal scan is not automatically negligence; the claimant must show no responsible specialist would have reported as the clinician did. Careful, well-documented scanning is a strong defence.
Claimant succeeded£1.84M
[2019] EWHC 1508 (QB)·2019·Appeal decision
A premature baby was sent home although a blood culture taken in hospital grew Group B strep; staff did not recall her and she developed meningitis with severe brain injury. The claim settled for a lump sum and annual payments; this reported judgment concerns a costs dispute, which the claimant lost.
Failing to act on a positive blood culture after discharge can lead to a multi-million-pound settlement. Note the published judgment is about costs, not the merits.
Claim failed
[2019] EWHC 1043 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial
A 4.93kg baby's shoulder became stuck at delivery and the registrar used moderate downward traction to free her, causing a permanent brachial plexus injury. The judge found that traction of that kind was accepted practice in 1992, even though it is now avoided, so the claim failed.
Negligence is judged by the standards at the time of the birth, not today's guidance, which is decisive in many historic Erb's palsy claims. An agreed damages figure is worth nothing unless breach of duty is proved.
Claimant succeeded£271,901
[2019] EWHC 980 (QB)·2019·Damages assessed at trial
The baby died in the womb before induction and the mother had to labour for 18 hours to deliver her stillborn daughter; the Trust admitted negligence. Martin Spencer J found she had a genuine, continuing psychiatric illness and awarded £271,901 in total.
After a negligent stillbirth the main claim is usually the mother's psychiatric injury and its financial consequences, such as lost earnings and treatment. Awards can be substantial but the court scrutinises the recovery prognosis closely, and the parties' valuations here were very far apart.
Claimant succeeded
[2018] EWHC 716 (QB)·2018·Liability decided at trial
A newborn baby was discharged after his mother, who spoke very little English, was given feeding advice she could not understand and without an interpreter, and the family's concerns about his crying were not acted on. He was found pale and lethargic the next day with dangerously low blood sugar that caused permanent brain injury.
Discharge advice only counts if it is given in a way the parent can actually understand, using an interpreter where needed. Concerns raised by a family before discharge should be recorded and looked into rather than brushed aside with reassurance.
Claimant succeeded£68,742
[2017] EWHC 863 (QB)·2017·Damages assessed at trial
Swabs taken after childbirth showed chlamydia but neither the patient nor her GP was told, and it went untreated for about a year; she suffered repeated pain and an ectopic pregnancy requiring removal of a fallopian tube. The trust admitted breach; the court accepted the ectopic pregnancy and a period of pain disorder were caused by the negligence but rejected the claim that her later chronic widespread pain was.
Failing to pass on an abnormal test result is a clear breach, but the claimant still has to prove which later problems flowed from it. Long-term pain conditions are hard to attribute to a delayed diagnosis.
Claimant succeeded
[2017] EWHC 88 (QB)·2017·Liability decided at trial
Repeated scans showed the baby's head growth dropping away along with other warning signs, but the mother was never referred to a specialist fetal medicine centre. The judge found the care at two of the scans fell below a reasonable standard because no reasonable clinician could have missed the risk of microcephaly.
Scan findings must be read together and over time, not in isolation; a pattern of concerning measurements calls for referral. This judgment decided breach only, so causation and damages were left for later.
Claimant succeeded
[2015] UKSC 11·2015·Appeal decision
A diabetic mother of small stature was not told of the roughly 10 per cent risk of shoulder dystocia in a vaginal birth or offered a caesarean, and her son was born with cerebral palsy. The Supreme Court held doctors must tell patients about material risks and reasonable alternatives, replacing the old doctor-knows-best approach to consent.
Since Montgomery, a claim can succeed where a patient was not warned of a risk that a reasonable person in their position would consider significant, even if some doctors would not have mentioned it. It underpins most modern consent-based negligence claims.
Claim failed
[2015] EWHC 276 (QB)·2015·Liability decided at trial
A four-year-old with fever, headache and vomiting was seen at an out-of-hours walk-in centre on New Year's Day and sent home with advice to return if he did not improve; the next evening he was admitted with meningitis and was left severely disabled. The judge held the GP's management was within the range of acceptable practice and dismissed the claim.
A feverish child sent home with safety-netting advice is not automatically a negligent consultation; the court asks whether a reasonable GP could have acted the same way. Hindsight about a devastating outcome does not prove breach of duty.
Claim failed
[2013] EWHC 4088 (QB)·2013·Liability and damages decided at trial
A widower and four children claimed after Mrs Shah, who had collapsed with leg weakness days after giving birth, died from an undetected arterial tear. The court found the A&E doctor's failure to check leg pulses was not negligent and would not have changed the outcome, so the claim failed.
Fatal claims need proof both that care fell below a reasonable standard and that better care would probably have saved the patient. The judgment nonetheless shows how dependency damages for a spouse and children are built up from the deceased's earnings and services.
Claim failed
[2013] EWCA Civ 547·2013·Appeal decision
A six-week-old premature baby was seen at an out-of-hours clinic, diagnosed with colic and not referred to hospital; he developed bacterial meningitis and was left severely disabled. The trial judge accepted the GP's contemporaneous note over the mother's recollection of symptoms and found no negligence, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision.
Even where earlier hospital referral would have prevented the injury, the claim fails if the court accepts the GP's record of what the child looked like at the consultation. Contemporaneous clinical notes can outweigh a parent's later recollection.
Claimant succeeded
[2011] EWHC 219 (QB)·2011·Liability decided at trial
A GP re-examined a nine-week-old baby's hips after a colleague had noted they were stiff, recorded them as seeming fine and did not refer her to an orthopaedic specialist; the dislocated right hip was only discovered when she was seven and needed major surgery. The judge found the GP should have detected the limited hip movement and referred immediately, and that early referral would have led to simpler treatment.
When an infant hip check raises concern, a GP must refer for specialist assessment rather than arranging a distant re-check. Missing a dislocated hip in infancy turns a condition treatable with a splint into one needing major surgery.
Claimant succeeded
[2011] EWHC 13 (QB)·2011·Liability decided at trial
A fourteen-year-old with days of high fever, vomiting and lethargy was not admitted to hospital by her GP on the Saturday, and the out-of-hours doctor that night managed her by phone instead of visiting; by the time she reached A&E the next morning she deteriorated and suffered irreversible brain damage. The judge found both doctors liable but dismissed the claim against the hospital because it could not be proved when the damage occurred.
A GP who recognises a possible pneumonia in a seriously unwell child but defers investigation for two days, and an out-of-hours doctor who does not visit despite worrying symptoms, can both be held liable when earlier admission would have avoided the injury. A hospital's breach does not lead to liability unless the timing of the damage can be linked to it.
Claimant succeeded
[2010] EWCA Civ 195·2010·Appeal decision
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.
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.
Claimant succeeded
[2008] EWHC 2468 (QB)·2008·Liability decided at trial
A prenatal sample was cultured by a private laboratory and DNA-tested at an NHS laboratory, but the poor quality of the sample was not communicated and the report wrongly cleared the baby. The trial judge found both laboratories liable; the Court of Appeal later held the NHS trust was entitled to assume the sample was satisfactory and placed the whole liability on the private laboratory.
Laboratories in a testing chain must communicate doubts about sample quality; a report that overstates confidence in an unreliable result can be negligent. Who ends up liable can change on appeal, so the final position matters.
Claim failed
[2006] EWHC 1238 (QB)·2006·Liability decided at trial
A baby born at 34 weeks developed severe jaundice; it was alleged doctors should have started an exchange transfusion sooner and that the laboratory should have phoned through a dangerously high bilirubin result. The judge found no breach in the doctors' decisions and, although the lab should have telephoned the result, concluded the damage could not have been prevented by then.
Neonatal jaundice claims depend on exactly when bilirubin reached a toxic level and whether earlier action could have prevented it. A proven communication failure still needs to be shown to have changed the outcome.
Claimant succeeded
[2005] EWCA Civ 1466·2005·Appeal decision
A leading fetal medicine specialist reported a normal brain on a specialist scan even though a routine scan had raised concerns, and the child was born with a severe brain malformation. The trial judge found no negligence, but the Court of Appeal by a majority held that the structures could not have been seen with reasonable care and skill, and found for the parents.
Where a highly specialised scan gets it badly wrong, the hospital must offer a possible explanation consistent with reasonable care; if it cannot, negligence may be inferred. Appeal courts will overturn a trial judge when the evidence cannot support the finding.
Claimant succeeded
[2004] EWHC 1392 (QB)·2004·Liability decided at trial
After a local scan found an abdominal wall defect, specialist scans reported a bladder was visible, ruling out the much more serious cloacal exstrophy; in fact there was no bladder. The judge held that a focused referral scan demanded a higher standard than a routine anomaly scan, and with proper persistence the error would have been exposed.
When a patient is referred to a specialist centre to answer a specific question, the standard of care rises to match that focus. Failing to use the available checks to confirm a critical finding can be negligent even where a routine scan might be excused.