Hospital payout for Rock Ferry boy, nine, who was starved of oxygen in his mother’s womb

Feb 3 2010 by Samantha Parker, Birkenhead News

A CHILD starved of oxygen in his mother’s womb has finally received a large compensation payout from the hospital that failed him.

Nine-year-old Stephen Loraine, of Rock Ferry, needs 24-hour care after doctors at Wirral’s Arrowe Park hospital sent his mum home following a scan in August 2000.

If they had seen records of Pauline Loraine’s previous four births, they would have realised she had a “fibroid” in her womb and endured a previous breech delivery.

But they were not shown the files and, three days later, she suffered a massive bleed at home and was rushed to hospital, where Stephen was delivered.

A high court judgement in 2008 ruled that if the 39-year-old had been kept in hospital following the scan, 20 crucial minutes would have been shaved off Stephen’s delivery time, preventing him being starved of oxygen.

He was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and impaired sight.

The amount of the payout was not disclosed following a decision at Manchester District Register yesterday.

But with a lifetime’s care ahead of him, it could run into millions of pounds.

Pauline, a former waitress, gave up her job to care for Stephen, and shares round-the-clock duties with her husband Mark, 40, who works for Mersey ferries. The youngster receives care at Wirral’s Claire House Hospice and attends the Lyndale school in Eastham.