Leslie Ash got £5m compensation, not £500,000!

[mumemma]

Looks like the papers got it wrong yesterday.....

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7192605.stm

Still if this gets the subject more publicity hopefully it will help other people in the same situation.

Haven't read all the thread so sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I'd have thought having her lips 'fished up' would have killed off any acting roles she might have got from then on, so has she really lost out on loads of work, hence the 5 mill pay out?

Ah yes- my Grandad's work records disappeared too (two of my cousins developed an extremely rare form of leaukaemis linked to radiation- one died, one didn't- Grandad worked on prototype nuclear power sites)

Can't trust any of them

The £5million won't be just her lost earnings

It will be made up of money spent so far (physio, OT, SLT if needed), money to be spent, lifetime of physio (£40 a session, maybe weekly for life) OT etc. Any equipment needed, including cars maybe even drivers. Any house adaptions needed or purchasing new adapted property, even personal hygiene is costed, 6 weekly trips to get waxed and nails cut, down to the last penny. Also any future carers/cleaners needed to run a home will be costed. It will also take into account all ages (so an 80 year old disabled person may need more care than a 20 year old, also costed to the penny and allowing for inflation)

Having been through this for my child, you have the 2 sides of solicitors. Your set works out a figure that is very high for future needs, the hospital trust side works out a very low figure. If you settle before trial it lands in the middle somewhere (this is when the hospital trust admits liability, if they don't you first need a trial to decide that) IF you don't come to an agreement, a trial takes place and a judge decides on the amount. A judge also has to agree the final figure in court, even if it is all agreed. I doubt who she is made any difference

I don't care how she got her injury in the first place and I don't care who she is. IF she has been through the mindfield process of sueing and proved negligence, she deserves every penny

Just to add, it is all costed for how long you are expected to live

So, a severley damaged child may get the same £5mill figure but sadly, many children do not survive into late adulthood. LA (and my daughter) prob has a normal life expectancy, so is costed to the average lifespan of a woman (LA physo bill could be £65,000 for the rest of her life, on its own)

I have only read a some of the posts and lulumama and minorityrules I certainly agree with you.

My DH is recovering from a near fatal accident and we have been told last week it is highly unlikely he will ever work again! This is over 2 years ago, think loss of earnings so far, potential future earnings, lots of additional (medical)expenses, but worst of all is not knowing what is happening in the future, loss of enjoyment in life (depression) etc.. He is only early thirties, had a great career ahead of him and now that is all gone because somebody else made a shortcut to get a job finished quicker!

I can go on and on, 5M is a lot but bear in mind she is likely to need a lot of care, lost her work basically her whole life has changed and not by her own making.

i bet if you ask her, 5M or having your old life back there would be no hesitation of old life back!

Just read some more. Someone mentioned the amounts for a child as being around £2mill for a child that can walk

Quite often, the hospital trust will now prefer to pay in installments(periodical payments). My child received just under £1mill in up front payment, and will receive £100k a year for life. She can walk, talk and attends mainstream school. If she lives (as expected) to grand old age, her claim could be worth in excess of £7 million pounds

In response to people who have had loved ones die though negligence, the claim is much less as there are no future costs

and also, mr joe public, in the same situation, would no longer be working and would be entitled legal aid. The solicitors who deal in this kind of claim are specialist solicitors so no matter how the are paid, they give a very good service

I thought she was in where the heart is post trout-pout incident but not before this? According to the apper today (the Times but obv not reliable I am aware), she was paralysed for a good while, and now still needs assistance to walk after intensive physio (which needs paying for)

I have no idea and this is just guesswork but i wonder if the spinal injury (was a problem with epidural apparently) caused paralysis couldn't it also have caused more personal issues, eg the ability to have children, incontinence?

Hello,my child suffered severe brain damage but was never awarded anything.My dh suffered a misdiagnosis of a brain tumour and then as a result of totally unecessary surgery he has been left severely disabled,fits,was bedridden for two years,nearly died etc as a result of MRSA.
Now we have loads of debt and he can only work a few hours a week,so we are means tested out for everything.
My point is,there is something wrong with a system where the need is exactly the same but one gets 5 million squid and the other nothing.We have totally unsuitable accomodation for a profoundly disabled bloke of 20 .It took years just to get rail over the bath,Im sure Im not the only one.
The system seems very unfair.
ps thats my son who is 20.One consultant said the hospital had been negligent,the other said it hadnt however caused the brain damage.Apparently both have to agree.I tried to sue over the misdiagnosis but solicitor wanted more money and we couldnt afford anymore,in too much debt.Now we are out of time,but does anyone have any suggestions,just a fraction of the five million would really help.

I'm sorry to hear that time4me. Have you looked into legal aid?

dh is a medical lawyer

He said tonight that it is astounding that they paid out on this because the burden of proof for mrsa is such that you previously had to prove that Nurse A did action B which led to said MRSA which is virtually unproveable. He reckons this will open th floodgates

time4me that is awful

If you do have a case then you can get a conditional fee arrangement (ie no win no fee) for this now I believe

Funny you should say that CountessDracula as my dh said the same thing.
But he isn't a medical lawyer although he has a medical background.

time4me so agree with your post. it is so unfair tha some people can walk away with money and some can't. my freind and i often moan about this. unless you can prove the facts you are ledt with nothing.......even if it looks really likey that human error was involved.

time4me that does sound so unfair. The system is terrible.
Maybe you'd get some more advice by posting in Legal / money matters so sorry to hear about it.

terrible thing that happened and she is permanently disabled.

the truth is that regardless of who you were etc there are many who are hardly going to say

" actually only give me 3m cos you know its the NHS"

it is a disgrace that it is one for one and one for the other but ultimately i cannot criticise her as if it was me and i had the chance of compensation i would want every penny they could give me.

Hi thanks for the replies,very helpful just to know someone is sympathetic.
I paid £6.5k upfront via a bank loan to sue and I used a high profile lawyer but he wanted more money and we just could not afford to take out any more,we just had to call it a day.As it happened in June 2003 (then 2years of very serious illness,back surgery etc to alleviate the pain and damage)I think we must be out of time.
At the time,my dh said if we had the money we could take it further but I just couldn`t afford to get into more debt.

time4me - I am sure you can get help somehow. What about legal aid? Isn't that free? Hope you can get some help somehow.

Shaniece I cant as I work full-time so I am meanstested out.I cant think why I didnt go for no win no fee but i think it was because there was a lot of bad publicity at the time about most of the compensation been swallowed up and as this solicitor (eminent,hed been in the news)gave us the impression we would have a water tight case we went ahead.My husband earns about 5k a year,perhaps he would get legal aid but not on my salary too.

i thought your dh would get legal aid based on his salary alone time4me, no? Worth finding out. Very unfair, so sorry.

sobernow, good point. I suppose that even if Lesley Ash now decided to leave her dh, he would still have a claim to the payout, as they are married.

I will investigate,thanks