to think this story cannot be true? Non English speaking mother did not know how to feed her baby causing brain damage, as the NHS did not provide a translator.

[WannaBeWonderWoman]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5612889/Sri-Lankan-refugee-couple-set-multi-million-pound-NHS-payout.html

and if it is there must be something missing?

If there's not, this country has gone mad!

don’t quite see why ratepayers should foot the bill for suchlessons, any more than the Government in Madrid should be expected to teach me Spanish

Isn't it just perfect that Madrid City Council, in fact, does offer free Spanish language classes to immigrants..

@ittakes2

I would not have realised myself the unfort consequences of a baby not feeding for 15hrs.

It's frightening for me because my DS didn't feed for around that long. I'd say it put into perspective why the SCBU nurse was so off with me, but there was no reason for her to carry on being a cow to me once I'd started trying to feed.

It also calls into question why nobody on the HDU suggested expressing colostrum to me. It was never mentioned to me, and I was in no fit state to be coming up with ideas like that on my own. They all just kept telling me to go to sleep - as if you're going to sleep while feeling traumatised after a horrendously painful induction followed up by being separated from your baby minutes after the birth and then spending the night on a ward with other women who have their babies with them.

Once we were both back on the post-natal ward the midwives were very good in helping me latch DS on and also helping me express so he could be fed with a syringe.

I do get Utley’s point about things like road humps and consultations and every council document being translated. But I think translation services could be better targeted so less road humps, more baby life savings.

Although I still think language is a total red herring here. The midwives should have checked they had established feeding before he left. Not waited for the mother to raise concerns. I think quite a few new British mothers might have done exactly the same simply because it was their first baby and they couldn’t spot the problem.

Yes you can get cerebral palsy from malnutrition. Brain cells need fluid and calories to live and if that baby does not get enough, it can cause low blood sugar and electrolyte abnormalities that result in brain injury and cerebral palsy.

--Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, M.D.