Girls wins Southampton hospital meningitis failure case

The girl's illness was misdiagnosed by two doctors at the hospital in Southampton

A meningitis victim can expect a multimillion-pound clinical negligence payout, lawyers have said.

The girl, now aged 15, suffered permanent brain damage in 2006, the High Court heard.

Two hospital doctors diagnosed tonsillitis and sent the child home despite a GP's note suggesting she had meningitis.

Mr Justice Johnson ruled University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust was liable for the "breach of duty".

The trust said it regretted the girl's "adverse outcome".

'Very floppy'

A "concerned" GP, who examined the girl when she was one year old, injected her with antibiotics and called an ambulance, the court was told.

In a letter accompanying the child to hospital, he recorded that she was "very floppy", with a "vacant" look, a high fever, vomiting and a possible aversion to light, concluding with the words: "Diagnosis ?meningitis - unwell".

However two hospital doctors recorded that she was "alert" and probably suffering from a throat infection.

Four days after the GP appointment she was diagnosed with pneumococcal meningitis and later suffered a stroke.

'Cerebral palsy'

In his written ruling, the judge said the doctors should have been aware that the GP's injection may have "masked" her symptoms.

He concluded: "If treatment [for meningitis at the hospital] had been given on 26 January 2006 then she would have made a full recovery.

"As it is, she developed a right hemiparetic cerebral palsy with permanent neurological deficit."

Solicitors for the girl, now aged 15, said her family could expect a "multimillion-pound payout" when damages are assessed at a later date.

The law firm, Hugh James, said the ruling followed the "first clinical negligence trial to take place in person during lockdown".

It said lawyers used separate bundles to avoid the risk of coronavirus infection and were allowed to pass messages by text instead of using paper notes.

In a statement, the NHS Trust said it had defended the case on the basis that it was reasonable for clinicians not to diagnose meningitis in the light of a diagnosis of tonsillitis.

It added: "Whilst the Trust acknowledges that any damages agreed in the future will never fully compensate the claimant for her pain, suffering and loss, the Trust hopes that any such damages will make the claimant's life more comfortable."