Children can claim damages for ‘lost years’ after medical negligence, Supreme Court rules
The UK’s highest court found that a 1981 Court of Appeal judgment, which stated children cannot receive damages, was “incorrect”
Children can now claim damages for the years of life lost due to medical negligence, the Supreme Court has ruled, overturning a legal precedent that stood for more than four decades.
The UK’s highest court declared on Wednesday that a 1981 Court of Appeal judgment, which had previously prevented children from receiving such compensation while allowing it for adults and teenagers, was "incorrect".
The decision stems from a case involving an 11-year-old girl, known only as CCC, who sued Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2020.
CCC was diagnosed with cerebral palsy following a severe brain injury, which was attributed to clinical negligence by the trust and left her requiring 24-hour care.
In 2023, a High Court judge ordered the trust to pay CCC approximately £6.8 million in damages, a sum that included some £2.7 million already disbursed.
However, the judge stopped short of awarding further damages for the years of CCC’s life that would be shortened because of the negligence.
As a result, CCC’s mother took the case to the Supreme Court on her daughter's behalf, with the challenge heard over two days in February of last year.
By a four-to-one majority, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and ordered that the case be sent back to the High Court so “lost years” damages could be assessed.
In his ruling, Lord Reed, with whom Lords Briggs, Burrows and Stephens agreed, said: “One might observe that the attempt to exclude claims for the lost years where they are brought by young children invites the question where the line is to be drawn.
“In reality, because the distinction sought to be drawn between claims by young children and claims by older children or adults has no basis in legal principle, the court cannot draw a line.
“Whatever the age of the claimant, it has to assess just compensation as best it can on the material which is reasonably available.”
Following the ruling, CCC’s mother said: “I feel elated that my little girl has changed the law and that this will help lots of other children who have been injured through no fault of their own.
“To fight a case all the way to the Supreme Court has taken a huge amount of work and courage, and I want to thank our legal team from the bottom of my heart.”
In the High Court ruling in 2023, Mr Justice Ritchie said that CCC suffered a severe shortage of oxygen to the brain before and during her birth, which caused cerebral palsy.
He continued that she “has suffered a significant effect on her senses”, that her “ability to communicate is pretty much destroyed”, and her “lack of mobility is at a very high level”, with her life expectancy reduced to 29.
While the trust admitted in 2019 that it was responsible for the negligence, its lawyers told a hearing in June 2023 that it should pay just over £3.3m in damages, while lawyers for CCC argued that she should receive around £9.2m in damages.
This included £823,506 in damages for the “lost years” of her life, claiming that she should be paid around £17,000 for each year of her working life that was lost, and £8,750 for each lost year of her retirement, assuming she would have a normal life expectancy.
Mr Justice Ritchie awarded CCC a total of £6,866,615, which included the costs of care and equipment, but declined to order that the trust pay “lost years” damages, stating that he was “bound” by the 1981 Court of Appeal decision.
But Lord Reed said that the 1981 ruling, which found that children could not receive damages on the basis that they did not have any “dependants”, was “inconsistent… with legal principle”.
In a judgment disagreeing with the majority ruling, Lady Rose said that assessing “lost years” damages for children could “push the court into uncomfortable territory” and went against the principle that “the loss to be compensated is the loss suffered”.
She continued that damages “should not extend to the lost years” where “there is no evidence before the court as to the claimant’s earning capacity or individual characteristics”.
James Drydale, medical negligence partner at Sheffield law firm Taylor Emmet – which represented CCC, said he felt “absolutely elated” following the ruling, which “put right a historic injustice”.
He said: “If your life has been significantly shortened by someone else’s negligence, then I think most people would regard it as fair that amends should be made for that. Why should a child’s life be any different?”
Mr Drydale also said that CCC’s “smile lights up every room”, telling the Press Association that the added damages would have a “major impact” on her and her family.
He said: “They feel vindicated, they have shown great courage in doing this.”
He continued: “They are ready for the next round, hopefully the final round.”
Bookmark popover
Removed from bookmarks