£4.1mn damages for brain damaged child

A mother who has devoted herself to her severely brain-damaged daughter for 29 years has been awarded £4.1mn damages. The daughter was starved of oxygen for 22 minutes after undergoing heart surgery back in 1979. She was left blind, unable to move or speak, epileptic, and totally dependent. The mother and daughter moved to the US a couple of years later. In 1998, the mother heard there was to be a public inquiry into the cardiac services at the hospital and she contacted a law firm. By 2001, the health authority had admitted negligence, and the process of assessing damages began.