Sarah Pritchard QC successfully negotiates settlement in wrongful birth claim

Sarah Pritchard QC has successfully negotiated a settlement on behalf of an NHS Trust in a ‘wrongful birth’ claim. The Claimant sought damages on the basis that spina bifida had not been diagnosed antenatally. Liability was admitted.

The Claimant had sought a seven figure sum but had settled for around one third of this following negotiations. There was a risk that the child’s condition would deteriorate but no award of provisional damages could be made because the claim was not the child’s. The settlement therefore allowed a contingency element to account for the risk of future deterioration (and increased future care needs). 

Sarah was instructed by Hempsons Solicitors, Harrogate.