Pay out for disabled Poole girl

5 February 2010, 13:16 | Updated: 5 February 2010, 13:22

A mum from Poole has spoken of her relief after receiving compensation from the hospital trust which left her daughter disabled from birth.

Julie Ann Nash's daughter Laura Louise will receive £100,000 on her eighteenth birthday after Poole Hospital NHS Trust admitted making mistakes during her delivery in February 2003.  Seven years later, Laura Louise is still unable to feed or dress herself unaided.

During Laura-Louise's birth it was noted that the head was delivered "with difficulty" and a Registrar was called for the delivery of shoulders.  Several efforts were made with rotation of head to "corkscrew" out the impacted shoulders.  On delivery, she required resuscitation and it was noted that she had severe shoulder dystocia.  A diagnosis of Erb's Palsy was made.

Mrs Nash said, "I am extremely pleased that my daughter will now have funds available to help fund the care she will need for the rest of her life.  Laura Louise still has some restriction in her right shoulder and she finds it difficult to dress as a result.  She can find it difficult to hold any cutlery with her right hand due to the difficulty with fine finger movements.

"I would urge any pregnant woman who thinks they may have not have a normal, easy delivery to discuss with their obstetrician as early as possible to see what options are available to them".

In a statement, Poole Hospital said:

"We give our unreserved apologies to Laura and her family and we hope that the settlement will help Laura to achieve her future plans and aspirations.  Poole Hospital delivers some 4,500 babies each year and, as the obstetric-led maternity unit for East Dorset, deals with very many complex cases each year. 

"We always investigate thoroughly any case where things don't go according to plan so that lessons can be learned.  In this case we have strengthened the training of doctors to ensure they can give optimum care to mother and babies at all times."