Young woman with lifelong communications issues after missed diagnosis of cleft palate
Lindsay Holt settled the case of a young woman who has suffered years of communication and mental health problems from a difficulty in forming early friendships, due to a cleft palate missed at birth.
After initially strongly denying liability Manchester University NHS Trust finally admitted it failed to adequately care for Emily*, who has developmental language disorder and auditory processing disorder from living with a cleft palate for years longer than she should have.
Routine neonatal checks carried out at Trafford Hospital in the days after she was born determined that Emily's palate was "intact".
At five months old, after several months of coughs and pulling at her ear, Emily was admitted to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital due to wheezing and breathing problems, spending time on intensive care. An endo-tracheal tube was inserted, along with a number of other examination and ENT tests and she was diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection and discharged.
In fact, she had a broad u-shaped divide in the roof of her mouth with no epiglottis, also known as a cleft palate, which should have been corrected with surgery before her first birthday but was missed by treating clinicians.
Over the next three years Emily was seen by the GP seven times due to with a recurrent discharge from her ears but it wasn't until she started that school and teachers acted on concerns about her delayed speech and language development and she was referred to an ENT specialist at Trafford Hospital.
She was diagnosed with a cleft palate and referred for surgery. A detailed assessment by a speech and language therapist found that Emily's speech was "largely unintelligible" and tests showed she had hearing loss due to recurrent ear infections, caused by the cleft palate.
As a result of the failure diagnose her cleft palate both at birth and later when she was admitted to hospital, Emily did not have timely surgery or speech therapy and sustained a developmental language disorder, which continues to impact her social skills and mental health. The recurrent ear infections and associated hearing problems have led to an auditory processing disorder.
Emily struggled socially at school due to her speech and language difficulties, which led to isolation, low self-esteem and poor mental health. Despite being above average intellect, her difficulty int understanding and being understood resulted in poor academic achievement and had a long-term impact on future earnings potential.
During lengthy pre-trial correspondence Lindsay secured a full admission of liability from the Trust. An interim payment enabled Emily to engage in therapies and support and the final damages secured will enable Emily to access support in her future career.
After the settlement Emily and her family said: "We are all so grateful to you and the team's hard work over the years in getting the best for Emily, we couldn’t have wished for a better team of people."
* Name changed.
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