A boy aged 6 years old who suffered brain damage in a fall at his nursery has been awarded substantial damages to help pay for his care. Young James Pitcher now requires 24 hour care following a fall from a changing table at the Headstart Nursery in Croydon in August 2004.
According to the BBC, the incident left James quadriplegic and unable to swallow effectively. He is not expected to live past 15. In 2008 he was allocated £1,320,000 and the final sum for the care will remain confidential.
James’s care includes ventilation at night, tracheostomy support and feeding through a gastrostomy tube.
However, it doesn’t just appear that it was the nursery who were responsible for James’s injuries as Mayday Hospital NHS Trust revealed a delay in diagnosis of his condition was also a contributory factor.
The judge in the case stated that he found the whole experience of approving settlements in cases like this a “very humbling one”. A portion of the money will be used to make adjustments to the house to make James’ life easier.
‘Humbling’ is an appropriate word for this kind of difficult circumstance. Infants are particularly vulnerable to injuries as they are still growing and developing in their early years and it appears that James was the victim of a dual failure by the nursery and the NHS.
You have to admire the resolve and resilience of the family to persevere and provide for their child after they have suffered such a debilitating injury and this award will provide the parents with some piece of mind and hopefully remove lingering financial worries about the cost of 24 hour care.