Woman Receives £2.2 million Compensation for Missed Opportunity to Abort Disabled Child [19th Dec 2011]
A woman who claims she would have opted for an abortion had she known of her son's disabilities has sued a hospital who failed to tell her about his problems. The congenital disabilities were not picked up due to negligent ante-natal care and the woman has already had a payment of £2.2 million. She has asked for a further half a million pounds as the boy is now expected to live longer than first thought. This is just an interim payment and further money is expected to be paid to the family. The Taunton and Somerset Trust has admitted that it should have spotted the problems which mean the boy needs round the clock care and needs to be tube fed and breathes through a ventilator. A doctor has won a compensation payout of £4.5 million after it was found that she was hounded out of her job after becoming pregnant. Dr Eva Michalak went to an employment tribunal after she felt her colleagues had mounted a campaign to bring her employment to an end during her maternity leave. Her case against the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust was based on sex and race discrimination and has resulted in the largest award ever given out in the UK. The doctor believes that her colleagues had a secret meeting and hatched a plan to bring her employment to an end when she was seven months pregnant. She then began to have complaints made against her and she was accused of bullying. This led to a suspension and her dismissal happened one year later. The tribunal found that her colleagues felt she was incompetent due to her training in Poland and that her disciplinary was bogus. She lost her role as a consultant and the ongoing pay associated with it. She also suffered from anxiety and depression following the incidents. The trust has apologised and said they have carried out a review. Southern and Scottish energy customers who feel they were duped into switching from another company due to doorstepping are to be offered compensation by the company. SSE say they have put aside £5 million to cover the likely bills. The company has already admitted and been found guilty in the courts of using misleading sales techniques and has stopped selling their services over the doorstep. In a statement the company has said that they will offer the compensation to anyone who can show they switched after being given inaccurate information since October 2009. Consumer Focus has welcomed the news and states that it makes it easier on the customers who would have had to go through the energy ombudsman if they felt they were due compensation. A telephone helpline will be put in place from January 2012 and customers who feel they are now on a more expensive tariff can call to apply. Alistair Phillips Davies from SSE has commented that SSE has a commitment to offering competitive prices and they wish to correct any losses suffered by their customers. Banks have been warned that they must display the compensation limits which apply to savings in a bid to raise awareness of the system. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has said that the banks should clearly show how the compensation schemes applies to each individual account. The change has been prompted in part by a Which? study which showed that even some bank staff had no idea what the limits were. The amount of compensation which is offered on savings was increased last year from £50,000 to £80,000 but joint accounts are covered up to £170,000. This applies to all money held in one licensed bank by the account holder. Consumers may be unaware that some banks share licences. Hector Sants from the Financial Services association has commented that consumers need to be aware of the risks of keeping a high amount of savings in one bank account, therefore they welcome the move. |
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