NHS 5-figure payout for boy who lost an eye in blunder
A LITTLE BOY who lost an eye because of a hospital blunder which left cancer undiagnosed for nearly three months received a five-figure damages payout yesterday.
The undisclosed settlement, to be put into a trust for three-year-old Harvey Dellar, was approved by a judge at Birmingham County Court.
Harvey’s mother Caroline Haywood, 33, said her son’s eye might have been saved if the tumour, a retinoblastoma, had been diagnosed sooner.
Harvey, of Northampton, was only a year old in February 2008 when his mother noticed that his right eye was turning inwards.
An optician referred him to Northampton General Hospital as an urgent case. But a “basic administration error” meant the letter was filed as a non-urgent referral.
After the brief hearing, in which the hospital admitted full liability, Ms Haywood said: “My son may not have lost his eye if he had been treated and diagnosed more quickly following the optician’s concerns.”