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Paul McNeil, a leading medical negligence solicitor,has won
substantial compensation for Romy Smith.
Romy Smith was born prematurely at 29 weeks. She was given
an excessive dose of the sugar dextrose at the
Lister hospital when she was in special care and as a
result suffered severe and permanent brain damage. This
caused cerebral palsy, severe learning difficulties and
autism. Her communication and social skills are very limited and
she needs a constant care and she will remain totally dependent on
carers for the rest of her life.
Romy’s mother, instructed Paul McNeil to bring the clinical
negligence claim against the East and North
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Letchworth GC and Baldock
Edition Comet reported the medical negligence case after the
court gave judgement earlier this month.
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Hertfordshire NHS Trust. The Trust had
previously admitted liability and will pay Romy a lump sum of
£2.36m and index-linked “periodical payments” to cover Romy’s
lifetime care expenses. These will start at £96,000 a year, rising
to £200,000 a year when she becomes 19. Exactly how much Romy will
receive depends on her life expectancy as the annual payments are
guaranteed for life.
Romy, now seven, “lives in a world of music”
which is a means of communication for her. The payment will also
cover the cost of music therapy.
Romy’s parents commented:
"We are absolutely delighted at the
settlement that Paul McNeil has secured for our daughter.
Throughout the whole time that Paul has worked with us, we have
found him to be very caring, extremely skilled and highly
organised. He has kept our family's best interests at heart at all
times and has always answered any concerns we may have had calmly,
quickly and efficiently. We are enormously grateful to him for the
way in which he conducted our case and we cannot praise him enough.
We would not hesitate in recommending him to anyone."