A boy has won a payout of £4.8 million after a mistakes by doctors at one of London’s top private hospitals left him needing a kidney transplant.
Lucas Tuppeny, 10, developed “devastating” septic shock shortly after his birth in 2004 due to failures in his care at the Cromwell Hospital in South Kensington following surgery.
He needed months of dialysis and the following year his father Brock, an oil executive, donated one of his own kidneys to save his son’s life. Lucas has since had 28 operations and spent 149 days in hospital.
The award was made by Judge Richard Parkes QC at the High Court yesterday, two years after hospital bosses offered an “unreserved apology” and admitted breach of duty. The damages will cover Lucas’s medical and care costs and anticipated future loss of earnings.
Lucas and his mother, Therese, 47, were in court and she said: “We absolutely think the amount is fair. Lucas has a chronic medical condition and he will need treatment for all his life.”
Lucas has now moved to Seattle with his mother, his parents having separated. He will require further transplants for the rest of his life.
Judge Parkes praised both parents for their “immensely impressive” care of Lucas.
Alison Eddy, a medical negligence specialist at Irwin Mitchell solicitors, said: “We hope that lessons are learnt by the hospital and their staff so that patient safety in this situation can be improved, and each and every patient receives the best quality of care at all times”.
A spokesman for the Bupa Cromwell Hospital said: “We did not own the hospital in 2004 and this case has been managed and paid for by the insurers working for the owners of the hospital at the time.”
“We inherited the investigation and liability of this case which is usual practice in this type of purchase.”
