Dallas McMillan's Blog

An eleven-year-old girl has been awarded around £11 million in compensation for serious injuries she suffered at birth, reports the Guardian.

Milly Evans was born in Lincoln County Hospital. Her family claim that during labour her heart beat was not adequately monitored, and therefore medical staff did not notice quickly enough that she had an abnormal heart beat and was in distress. Milly was born with cerebral palsy and cannot speak. She will be dependent on care for the rest of her life.

According to the Guardian, the United Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust had admitted liability for Milly's injuries, but contested the level of damages being sought. An agreement has now been reached, and Milly will be paid a lump sum of £5.9 million and receive annual payments for the rest of her life, to help meet the costs of her ongoing care requirements.

A housebuilder has been fined £20,000 after a young boy was seriously injured when some timber roof trusses fell onto him.

The eight year old boy was playing with friends when they got into an unsecured storage area on a construction site near Paisley. The development was nearing completion and the housebuilder, BDW Trading Ltd, had sold some of the finished houses and there were people living in them while work continued on the remaining homes. The young boy and his family had moved into one of these new houses.

As the children were playing in the storage area, some timber roof trusses fell onto the boy, trapping him underneath.

The boy sustained a serous injury to his liver and had abdominal bleeding, and was kept in hospital for eight days. In the months following the incident, he developed a number of anxiety-related symptoms such as nightmares and poor concentration.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the construction site was only partially fenced, and as a result there was a large gap at the side and rear which meant that the site could be easily accessed by members of the public, including children.

The investigation also revealed that the roof trusses had, at some point, been stacked upright which made them unstable and more likely to fall over.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Gerry McCulloch said:

"BDW Trading Ltd knew that families were living right next to of the construction site, and as such the safety of children should have been a primary consideration.

"If the company had taken the straightforward precaution of fencing off the construction site, the children would not have been able to get into the area and this young lad would not have received potentially life-threatening injuries."