Maisha Najeeb Left Disabled after Mistake
A 10-year-old who was left severely disabled after “glue was wrongly injected into her brain” at an internationally renowned hospital. Maisha Najeeb, from Redbride, has been awarded one of the biggest settlements in the history of the National Health Service after the blunder by Great Ormond Hospital.
Before the operation Maisha was a healthy young girl suffering with a rare medical condition for which she had to have an operation for in June 2010. However, in a cruel twist of destiny she was left intensely brain damaged of which the hospital’s lawyer described as a “tragic mistake.” “Two unmarked syringes were mixed up and glue rather than a dye indicating blood flow was injected into the artery to her brain.”
A High Court judge has ruled that, Maisha who is now 13, was awarded a sum of £2.8 million upfront with an additional £383,000 every year until she is 19 and will eventually increase to £423,000 yearly for the rest of her life. The agreement was settled before the case went to court.
Maisha’s father, Sadir Hussain said, “We are sad and devastated by what happened to our daughter. Her life is ruined. All her dreams have been broken. “I hope that by bringing this case, lessons will have been learned to avoid this happening to other families. We are grateful that agreement has been reached with Great Ormond Street to ensure that Maisha’s care needs are met.”
Care needs include round the clock care throughout the day and night as well as being in a wheelchair as she has “lost the vast majority of her bodily and cognitive abilities.”
Family solicitor, Edwina Rawson said, “What is so heartbreaking about this case is that the injury was so avoidable. If syringes had been marked-up so the hospital could see which contained glue and which contained dye, then Maisha would not have suffered what is an utterly devastating brain injury.”
While Judge William Birtles paid compliment to Maisha’s parents on their admiration towards her care. “”I hope this monetary compensation will go some way towards at least making the rest of her life as bearable as possible.”
For the hospital, Neil Block QC, said, “We would like to apologise again, in open court, to Maisha and her family for the mistakes that were made. We cannot wind the clock back. We hope there are now systems and procedures in place to ensure such a tragic mistake couldn’t be made again.”
