Girl Whose Brain Was Injected With GLUE Awarded £24 Million

Girl Whose Brain Was Injected With GLUE Awarded £24 Million
Graham Turner

A girl whose brain was accidentally injected with GLUE after a hospital mix-up will receive a payout of up to £24million.

Maisha Najeeb, who was a healthy 10-year-old before going to Great Ormond Street Hospital in June 2010, suffered catastrophic and permanent brain damage when a glue and a dye were mixed up.

She has a rare medical condition meaning that her arteries and veins are tangled, which could result in a bleed.

Maisha, who is now 13, was due to undergo treatment that involved injecting glue to block off bleeding blood vessels, and an injection of harmless dye to check the flow of blood around the brain and head.

However, solicitor Edwina Rawson from Field Fisher Waterhouse, said there was no system in place for telling the syringes apart and they were mixed up. She said the damage to Maisha's brain caused catastrophic and permanent brain damage.

Judge Birtles approved a settlement at London's High Court that will see Maisha receive £2.8million as a lump sum, £383,000 until she is 19, which will then increase to £423,000 for the rest of her life - which some experts expect to be to the age of 64.

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust admitted liability and apologised for the shortcomings in her care and said her family had worked with them to learn from what happened to Maisha.

Neil Block QC, said: "We can't wind the clock back. We hope there are now systems and procedures in place to ensure such a tragic mistake cannot be made again.

"While money can't restore what Maisha has lost, we are sure a great burden has been lifted from the family by coming to the settlement we have."

He said one could not help but be inspired by what Maisha's parents, Sadir and Hussain Rukshana, had achieved in terms of their 13-year-old daughter's rehabilitation.

He said: "It is probably the most intensive cognitive rehabilitation we have ever seen by a family and we would wish to acknowledge everything they have done for Maisha and wish them well for the future."

The judge extended his sympathy and admiration to the family and said he hoped the compensation would make the rest of Maisha's life as comfortable as possible.

Outside court, Maisha's father, from Ilford, Essex, said: "We are sad and devastated by what happened to our daughter. Her life is ruined. All her dreams have been broken.

"I hope that by bringing this case, lessons will have been learned to avoid this happening to other families.

"We are grateful that agreement has been reached with Great Ormond Street to ensure that Maisha's care needs are met."

The money will go towards paying for care and accommodation for Maisha who needs round the clock care. She is in a wheelchair and has lost the vast majority of her bodily and cognitive abilities.

Ms Rawson said: "What is so heart-breaking about this case is that the injury was so avoidable.

"If the syringes had been marked-up so the hospital could see which contained glue and which contained dye, then Maisha would not have suffered what is an utterly devastating brain injury. Such easily avoidable mistakes should not happen."

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