By John de Bono

This is the clear takeaway from Whipple J’s powerfully reasoned judgment in YAH v. Medway Foundation Trust, judgment 5th November 2018. The facts are typical of many cerebral palsy cases. The Claimant’s daughter was born after a negligent delay in intervention in the face of signs of fetal distress. The Claimant suffered psychiatric injury. In the joint statement the psychiatrists stated:

“We agreed that a number of factors had contributed to YAH having suffered a mental disorder, including the experience of a difficult labour; the worry of knowing whether or not [XAS] would survive and, importantly, the strain of looking after a child with significant disability.”