£8.5m payout for brain-damaged boy

A boy who suffered catastrophic brain damage after a “catalogue of errors” at his birth has been awarded a substantial compensation package. Alfie Buck, who is now seven years old, is to receive compensation worth £8.5 million after it was approved at London’s High Court.

His lawyers said that staff at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, failed to monitor him sufficiently during his mother’s labour in March 2006 or deliver him by emergency caesarean. They claimed it was highly likely that he would have been born without any brain damage at all if he had been delivered just 20 minutes earlier. Alfie has cerebral palsy and suffers painful spasms. He condition means he is completely reliant on a wheelchair, communicates using technology and needs 24-hour support.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust admitted liability in court. The compensation package includes a lump sum of £3.85 million plus lifelong periodical payments.

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