Medical negligence ruling upheld on appeal

A 47-year-old mother-of-two who went into hospital to give birth only to be left paralysed after being given an anaesthetic contaminated with cleaning fluid has spoken of her "relief" after an appeal court found in her favour, upholding an earlier verdict of medical negligence.

The former Ministry of Defence worker is now expected to be in line to receive a medical negligence compensation award of several million pounds, subject to any further appeal the liable NHS trust might decide to make. Although the trust do not appear to have ruled out making any further appeal, saying, "The trust is considering with its legal advisers the judgement which has now been delivered by the court of appeal," they have have also "expressed regret" to the claimant.

While accepting that contamination of an anaethetising syringe with the cleaning-fluid chlorhexidine as the likely cause of the woman's paralysis, the trust maintain that they have no idea how it happened.

The personal injury solicitor who represented the woman thoughout her initial claim and the subsequent appeal commented on the outcome of the medical negligence claim, saying "We first won this case nearly a year ago but had to fight on after the hospital trust filed an appeal."