Mother's long wait for NHS payout

A MOTHER whose son was left severely disabled after failures by the NHS during his birth has spoken of her long battle for compensation.

Pauline McKenzie was awarded 5.75 million after her son Kyle was starved of oxygen at birth in 1994, leaving him with severe cerebral palsy. The family are now going on a world cruise after receiving the payout - the biggest damages settlement in a medical negligence case in Scotland.

McKenzie said: "At the time, I felt as if we were living in a black hole. Before this Kyle was just existing. Now he can start to live."

McKenzie gave birth at Forth Park Maternity Hospital in Kirkcaldy, after going in to be induced as she was 11 days overdue. Nothing happened for some time until the baby's heartbeat dropped suddenly and an obstetrician was called, but failed to order an emergency Caesarean.

When Kyle was born more than four hours later - with the use of forceps - he was not breathing and it was seven minutes before he came to life, suffering a terrible fit.

McKenzie was then left to cope with a severely disabled child needing 24-hour care. She and his father divorced in 1999, the same year her mother died.

She had already started the battle for compensation from the NHS six weeks after Kyle's birth after approaching Kirkcaldy lawyer Ken Lauder.

"I felt I had to do it for my child," she said. "I wanted some security for Kyle. In the back of my mind I was thinking, 'What happens when I am not here?'"

The family faced many legal challenges, including getting legal aid, before a Court of Session ruled in 2006 that Kyle's cerebral palsy was caused by the doctor's negligence, his failure to respond to the drop in Kyle's heart rate and the warnings from midwives.

It took a further three years to reach an out-of-court settlement on the level of compensation.