Girl wins right to big NHS payout

An 11-year-old child left facing a lifetime of disability after being born weighing less than 2lbs has won the right to a large payout from the NHS.

Ayesha Canning-Kishver, of Green Lane, Coventry, was born 15 weeks prematurely at Birmingham's City Hospital in 1997.

At the High Court Judge Sir Christopher Holland ruled damage to her brain could not be put down simply to prematurity.

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust has agreed to an "interim payment" of £20,000.

Final assessment

It has also agreed to another £30,000 as some compensation to her mother for her past care and expense.

The judge ruled the negligence of medical staff at City Hospital was the probable cause of at least some of the disabilities that would blight her life.

Ayesha, from Woodside Avenue North, was born by Caesarean section at the hospital on 15 July 1997.

She was cared for in the hospital's intensive care room, but on 23 July a doctor found Ayesha in her cot in an "all but terminal condition".

The judge told the court it was only by "aggressive" resuscitation methods that Ayesha's life was saved, but the result was brain damage and permanent disability.

Ruling in her favour, he said had medical staff "exercised reasonable care and skill" in monitoring her condition, they would have spotted "the drastic falls in the heart and respiratory rates" and a doctor would have been called to the scene earlier.

The trust would also pay an interim legal costs bill of £100,000, pending final assessment of lawyers' bills.

The girl, who has been suing the trust through her mother, was now entitled to very substantial compensation to pay for a lifetime of care and assistance.

The amount of the youngster's payout has yet to be finally assessed.