JBX v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

Facts

The claimant, JBX, suing by his mother and litigation friend DBX, was born on 2 June 2009 and suffered from asthma from early childhood, which was poorly controlled by December 2017. In the early hours of 4 January 2018 his mother took him to Frimley Park Hospital, run by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, where he presented with shortness of breath, low oxygen saturation, an elevated respiratory rate and a very elevated pulse; he was discharged at 2 p.m. On the evening of 5 January 2018 he stopped breathing, suffered a cardiac arrest and sustained a hypoxic brain injury. He is now profoundly disabled, in a minimally conscious state with severe dystonia, epilepsy, a four-limb motor disorder and significant respiratory vulnerability, and has lived since May 2018 at Tadworth Court, a residential rehabilitation centre, where he will remain until his 19th birthday in June 2028. Following a letter of claim of 9 March 2021, the Trust admitted breach and causation in its letter of response of 27 August 2021, accepting that but for its negligence the claimant would have led a fully independent adult life. The claim was issued on 28 March 2023 and judgment was entered for the claimant on 8 December 2023, with directions for the assessment of damages. Two heads of loss remained: future care and accommodation, and the lost years.