NHS Trust settles legal case after baby’s death

Legal action against an Oxfordshire hospital involving a baby who lived for less than a year has been settled at the High Court in London.

Jake Blake was born at Horton General Hospital in Banbury on 16 January 2003. He suffered severe brain damage and was seriously ill until he died on 29 December the same year.

Sue Jarvis, Clinical Negligence specialist solicitor at law firm Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons’ Oxford office, advised Jake’s family throughout the legal proceedings.

Rosalind Smith, Jake’s mother, said: " We argued that as a result of mistakes made by the hospital at his delivery, in failing to respond to signs of distress and deliver Jake earlier, Jake suffered severe brain damage and was seriously ill for the rest of his extremely short life.

"We issued proceedings against the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the Horton, because, firstly, we want Jake's life and all-too-quick death to be recognised and remembered, and secondly we want the case to highlight and therefore help rectify faults in the system to help prevent this from happening to other families."

The amount of damages in the settlement is relatively low as Jake lived for only 11 months and the sum covered the cost of his specialist care during this short period. Therefore, damages were settled at £40,000.

Contact:  Sue Jarvis, Partner in Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons’ Clinical Negligence team, tel 01865 254293; email sue.jarvis@bllaw.co.uk