An 18-year-old woman has been awarded £2.85m in compensation for brain damage she suffered at birth.
Jessica Smith was unable to take her first breath until five minutes after she was born at the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge. As a result, she suffers from quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy. She requires 24-hour care as she is unable to move on her own and can only communicate by moving her eyes and operating switches.

Through her mother, Ms Smith sued the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority. The High Court heard that there were signs of foetal distress while she was in the womb and it was argued that delivering her one hour earlier, by Caesarean section, would have prevented the damage to her brain. The Health Authority accepted that she should have been born earlier but disputed whether this would in fact have prevented Ms Smith from suffering injury.

The Health Authority settled the case on the basis of 63 per cent liability, leading to compensation of £2.85m.