Disabled man gets £2m from Tameside General Hospital

[dutchman]

A severely disabled man who says a hospital made mistakes during his birth has received £2m in compensation.


Jonathon Khairule reached an out-of-court settlement with Tameside General Hospital, Greater Manchester, after winning the right to take legal action.

The 28-year-old from Coventry, who has cerebral palsy, can only communicate by typing on a keyboard with his nose.

The hospital has never admitted responsibility and refused to comment further on the case.

Mr Khairule's success is being seen as a landmark victory because he was granted permission to mount a legal challenge despite being aged over 21 - the normal age limit for birth injury claims.

After taking his case to the High Court in 2008, Mr Khairule was granted permission to take legal action and a trial against Tameside NHS Foundation Trust was scheduled to take place last December.

But the hospital paid out before it reached court.

Mr Khairule cannot talk, uses an wheelchair and needs round-the-clock care.

His solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, claim that monitoring at Mr Khairule's birth showed his heart rate was decelerating alarmingly, which should have prompted midwives to take immediate action.

Obstetricians then intervened but it is claimed he was still was not delivered promptly- a ventouse and a forceps delivery failed and by the time he was finally delivered by Caesarean section he was in a very poorly condition.

Mr Khairule said: "I knew I had cerebral palsy from birth, but I had always been led to believe that it was just one of those unfortunate things which could not have been avoided.

"It wasn't until I was in my early 20s that I started to do some investigating. At that stage I really just wanted answers.

"After obtaining advice from independent medical experts they advised me there were concerns about the way my birth was handled and I was determined to get justice."