NOTTINGHAMSHIRE HEALTH AUTHORITY HAS PAID #375,000

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE HEALTH AUTHORITY HAS PAID #375,000 TO A NINE

YEAR OLD LONG EATON GIRL BORN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY.

JENNIFER FORMAN WAS BORN PREMATURELY AT THE CITY HOSPITAL,

NOTTINGHAM, ON OCTOBER 3, 1977, WEIGHING JUST TWO POUNDS.

PSYCHOLOGIST DR NIGEL FORMAN, 34, AND HIS WIFE, DENYSE (COR),

36, HAD CLAIMED THAT PRE-NATAL TESTS TO ASCERTAIN THE CONDITION OF

THE UNBORN CHILD WERE ORDERED BUT NOT CARRIED OUT IN TIME.

IT WAS ANNOUNCED AT THE HIGH COURT IN LONDON TODAY (MON) THAT

THE HEALTH AUTHORITY HAD AGREED TO PAY THE BULK OF THE COUPLE’S

ORIGINAL #462,000 CLAIM – BUT DID NOT ADMIT LIABILITY.

MRS MARGARET PUXON, FOR THE FAMILY, TOLD THE COURT THAT THE

HEALTH AUTHORITY HAD BEEN SUED FOR MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE.

WHEN MRS FORMAN WAS PREGNANT WITH JENNIFER TESTS WERE CALLED FOR

TO DETERMINE THE CONDITION OF THE FOETUS AND WHETHER THE PREGNANCY

SHOULD BE TERMINATED.

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BY THE TIME THEY WERE CARRIED OUT THE RESULTS WERE OF NO VALUE

BECAUSE ‘BY THAT TIME TERMINATION WAS PROBABLY ILLEGAL AND CERTAINLY

UNWISE.

‘

MRS PUXON SAID THAT ALTHOUGH THE FAMILY HAD ‘A FORMIDABLE CLAIM

OF NEGLIGENCE’ THEY HAD COMPROMISED WITH THE HEALTH AUTHORITY OVER

THE CLAIM BECAUSE JENNIFER WAS ‘VERY MUCH BETTER THAN ONE MIGHT HAVE

EXPECTED IN VIEW OF THE DAMAGE TO THE BRAIN.

‘

AND JENNIFER, OF 53 REEDMAN ROAD, SAWLEY, LONG EATON – A PUPIL

AT BROOKLANDS JUNIOR SCHOOL, LONG EATON – HAD WRITTEN TO THE JUDGE,

MR JUSTICE MICHAEL DAVIES, TO TELL HIM HERSELF EXACTLY WHAT HER

DIFFICULTIES WERE.

‘THERE IS ONLY ONE SPELLING MISTAKE IN THE LETTER,’ COMMENTED

THE JUDGE.

AFTER THE HEARING MRS FORMAN RECALLED HOW JENNIFER HAD INSISTED

THAT SHE WANTED TO WRITE THE LETTER.

‘IT WAS ENTIRELY HER IDEA,’ SAID HER MOTHER.

‘SHE WANTED TO

DESCRIBE THE DIFFICULTIES SHE HAS.

SHE WAS UPSET ABOUT IT BUT SHE

WANTED TO DO IT.

‘

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DR FORMAN SAID HIS DAUGHTER, WHOSE PHYSICAL PROBLEMS ARE MAINLY

IN THE LOWER BODY, HAS A KEEN INTEREST IN MUSIC.

SHE PLAYS THE PIANO

AND RECORDER AND HAS RECENTLY BEGUN VIOLIN LESSONS.

‘IN MOST RESPECTS SHE IS UP WITH THE CHILDREN OF HER OWN AGE

GROUP AND IN SOME WAYS AHEAD, ALTHOUGH NOT PHYSICALLY.

‘

MR CHRISTOPHER GIBSON, FOR THE HEALTH AUTHORITY, HAD TOLD THE

COURT THAT LIABILITY WAS STRONGLY CONTESTED.

BUT JUDGE DAVIES

COMMENTED THAT IN VIEW OF THE AGREED PAYMENT ‘IT IS LIVING IN CLOUD

CUCKOO LAND TO SAY THE DEFENDANTS DO NOT RECOGNISE 80 PER CENT

LIKELIHOOD OF JUDGMENT BEING OBTAINED AGAINST THEM.

‘

AND HE TURNED DOWN THE AGREED SUGGESTION FROM BOTH COUNSELTHAT

THE CASE BE ‘STAYED’ AS A RESULT OF THE COMPROMISE THAT HAD BEEN

REACHED.

JUDGE DAVIES COMPLAINED THE RESULT OF SUCH A PROPOSAL WOULD BE

THAT THE CASE REMAINED ON THE COURT’S PAPERS ‘FOR THE NEXT 1,000

YEARS’ AND DESCRIBED THAT SOLUTION AS ‘MESSY, SLOPPY, UNSATISFACTORY

AND NOT TO BE PUT UP WITH.

‘

HE CONFIRMED THE PAYMENT TO JENNIFER, TO BE INVESTED ON HER

BEHALF, AND A #24,000 AGREED SUM TO MRS FORMAN.

AND THE AUTHORITY

ARE TO PAY COSTS.

‘THE DEFENDANTS ARE ANXIOUS TO EMPHASISE THEY HAVE NEVER

ADMITTED IT WAS NEGLIGENCE ON THEIR PART OR THE PART OF THEIR

SERVANTS OR AGENTS.

‘THE #375,000 IS A VERY SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION OF THE CLAIM

MADE ON THE BASIS OF FULL LIABILITY AND I AM QUITE SATISFIED THIS IS

A VERY PROPER FIGURE AND A FAIR COMPENSATION IN THE LIGHT OF THE

STANDARDS WHICH HAVE TO BE APPLIED BY THE COURTS.

‘

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MR GIBSON HAD TOLD THE COURT: ‘LIABILITY WAS DISPUTED FROM THE

BEGINNING AND WOULD REMAIN IN DISPUTE.

THE OFFER OF SETTLEMENT WAS

MADE IN RECOGNITION OF WEAKNESSES IN MY CLIENTS CASE AND IN THE FACE

OF REALITIES.

‘

COMMENTING ON THE AWARD THE FORMANS, WHO HAVE A SECOND DAUGHTER,

MEGAN, AGED SIX, SAID THE MONEY WOULD HELP TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY

OF JENNIFER’S LIFE WITH REGULAR PHYSIO-THERAPY TREATMENT.

BUT THEY

ADDED: ‘NO AMOUNT OF MONEY CAN REALLY COMPENSATE FOR DISABILITY.

‘

DR FORMAN SAID THAT AFTER HER BIRTH JENNIFER WAS IN INTENSIVE

CARE FOR TWO MONTHS AND HE PRAISED THE DOCTORS FOR WHAT THEY DID FOR

HER.

‘BECAUSE OF THOSE DOCTORS SHE IS ALIVE AND HAS DONE DO WELL.

‘

ENDS