Family's claim for mix-up

Medical negligence compensation is being sought by the family of a girl who, it is alleged, suffered a serious brain injury as a result of doctors confusing two syringes.

Personal injury lawyers representing the medical negligence compensation claimant say that although doctors were meant to inject the girl's brain with a dye to highlight blood flow, they mistakenly injected her with a syringe containing a kind of medical glue.

"This tragic incident could have been avoided had the syringes been marked in a way that made them distinguishable," said one clinical negligence solicitor.

Although the girl suffered from a condition called arteriovenous malformation, which involves the arteries and veins becoming entangled, she was not in any immediate danger at the time of the procedure. The girl's family described the tragic impact the alleged mix-up has had, "Before this she was top of her class in primary school, loved dancing and poetry, and her ambition was to be a doctor," they said.

Furthermore, they expressed hope "that hospitals... will put adequate systems in place to make sure no child suffers in this way again."

Although the hospital concerned, Great Ormond Street, In London, declined to comment on any medical negligence compensation payout, it did say that it "apologised sincerely" to the girl and her family.