Parents of a boy who had to have his eye removed as a baby due to a delay in cancer diagnosis have won a £50,000 compensation payment.
The ‘administrative error’ at Northampton General Hospital in 2008 led to a delay in Harvey Dellar’s cancer diagnosis. He had been urgently referred to the hospital by an ophthalmologist, and the letter of referral should have led to Harvey, then 12 months old being seen within two weeks.
The letter was allegedly wrongly date stamped and instead he received an appointment with a consultant after some 11 weeks, by which time a rare cancerous tumour had spread so far that surgeons had to remove his right eye.
Harvey’s mother, Caroline Haywood, said that she wanted to raise awareness of signs of the rare cancer and make this type of error was not made again.
She added that although the cancer would probably have affected his eyesight anyway, Harvey might not have had to lose his eye if he had been treated and diagnosed faster.
The settlement, which was approved by the High Court in Birmingham, will be kept in a trust fund for Harvey, and will be used to help pay for any additional assistance he needs in later life.
Injury lawyer Tim Deeming, who represented the family, said that the three-month delay in Harvey’s appointment had led to catastrophic consequences. The solicitor called on the trust to prove that it had learned from its mistakes.
The hospital said in a statement that they were pleased that the court has approved the settlement and wished Harvey and his family well for the future.
