Brain-damaged boy gets £7m

A boy of 11 who suffered severe brain damage after his birth because hospital staff failed to notice he was at risk of suffering complications has received a payout of more than £7m.

Louis Peers, from Solihull, West Midlands, has cerebral palsy as a result of mistakes made by Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital in December 1999. Julie Lewis, acting for his family, said the settlement approved by the High Court in Birmingham would provide him with financial security.

"A simple glucose test would have revealed why Louis was so unresponsive but his condition was left to deteriorate until the damage to his brain was irreversible," she said.

The Heart of England Foundation NHS Trust had previously admitted liability.