Paul McNeil acted for Portia Gumbs in
connection with a claim for medical
negligence arising out of her birth and delivery at the Frimley
Park Hospital on 30 March 1992. Portia suffered from dyskinetic
cerebral palsy complicated by a rare congenital abnormality
described as Klienfelder’s syndrome. The latter involves a normal
male chromosome configuration of XY, but with an additional X
chromosome. Unusually for this condition, Portia is being brought
up a female and her male organs have been removed.
The main allegations concerned the conduct of the obstetric team
during the labour. Portia was in breech position and there was an
abnormal fetal heart reading. We contended that this should have
lead to an expedited delivery by way of caesarean section
particularly in view of the difficulties associated with breech
delivery. The defendants denied liability principally on the
grounds that their experts viewed the heart trace as “suspicious”,
but no more. There was no requirement to expedite delivery.
Proceedings were issued in June 2001 with a trial fixed for
February 2003. Liability was never admitted but a negotiated
settlement was achieved in the sum of £2,000,000, which was
approved by the court in December 2002. The claimant accepted a
discount for the risks of litigation.