When a child suffers harm because of substandard medical care, the immediate focus is naturally on the child’s health, recovery, and ongoing needs. As time passes, however, families may also begin to ask whether the care their child received could give rise to a paediatric negligence claim.
Those concerns can arise in many parts of the healthcare system, including paediatrics, GP care, emergency departments, radiology, surgery, neonatal medicine, oncology, and community services. Equally, the negligence itself can manifest in various ways, including delayed diagnosis, surgical error, medication mistakes, failure to monitor a deteriorating child, or failure to act on concerning symptoms.
If you believe your child has suffered avoidable harm because of negligent medical treatment, our specialist solicitors can investigate whether there are grounds for a paediatric medical negligence claim and advise on the most appropriate next steps.
To help give families a clearer understanding of what these cases involve, this article is divided into the following sections:
- Who can make a medical negligence claim for a child
- The legal test in child medical negligence claims
- Consent, governance and families’ rights after serious treatment concerns
- Inquests, complaints and other investigations
- Compensation, court approval and what happens next
Who Can Claim on Behalf of a Child?
A child under the age of 18 cannot usually conduct court proceedings themselves. Instead, a parent, guardian, or another suitable adult brings the claim on the child’s behalf as a litigation friend. That person makes decisions in the child’s best interests and helps progress the case.
Although the claim is managed by the litigation friend, it remains the child’s claim. Ultimately, the aim is to secure financial support for the child’s treatment, therapies, education, care, equipment, accommodation needs, and long-term independence.
Parents do not need to wait until a child reaches a certain age before investigating a claim; in fact, early investigation is often helpful. Medical records are easier to obtain, events are easier to piece together, and expert evidence can often be gathered more effectively while the chronology is still relatively clear.
In practice, the litigation friend will usually provide instructions to the solicitors, review important documents, and make decisions about the conduct of the case. Any decision made must be in the child’s best interests, not the adult’s personal interests.
The Legal Test for Child Medical Negligence Claims
To succeed in a clinical negligence claim in England and Wales, four elements usually need to be proved.
1. Duty of Care
The first issue is usually straightforward. Where a child is being treated by NHS or private healthcare professionals, a duty of care will normally exist.
2. Breach of Duty
The claimant must then show that the treatment fell below the standard expected of a reasonably competent healthcare professional in the same field. In legal terms, this is often assessed by reference to the Bolam and Bolitho principles.
The court considers whether a responsible body of medical opinion would support the care provided and whether that opinion is capable of withstanding logical analysis.
3. Causation
It must also be shown that the breach caused injury or materially worsened the child’s outcome. This can be one of the most technically complex parts of a case, especially where the child had an underlying condition or complex medical history.
4. Damage
Finally, the child must have suffered measurable harm. That may include physical injury, pain, prolonged illness, avoidable surgery, developmental delay, disability, or psychological harm.
In many paediatric negligence cases, independent medical experts are required to address both breach of duty and causation. Depending on the issues involved, expert evidence may be needed from paediatricians, surgeons, neonatologists, radiologists, GPs, nursing experts, or other relevant specialists.
Time Limits for Bringing a Child’s Claim
The limitation rules for children are different from those that apply to adults. In most adult clinical negligence cases, court proceedings must usually be issued within three years of the negligence or the date of knowledge. For children, however, the limitation clock generally does not begin to run until their 18th birthday.
That means a child will usually have until their 21st birthday to issue proceedings themselves. As mentioned, a parent or guardian can still bring the claim much earlier as litigation friend, which is often the more practical course where evidence needs to be preserved or support is urgently needed.
Different rules may apply where the injured person lacks mental capacity
Although the legal time limit is often longer in child medical negligence claims, delay is not usually beneficial. Early investigation can help preserve evidence, identify witnesses, obtain expert opinion, and assess the child’s rehabilitation and support needs at an earlier stage.
Consent, Governance & Families’ Rights After Serious Treatment Concerns
One of the most important issues in child medical negligence cases is consent. In law, consent must be informed, voluntary, and specific to the treatment proposed. Families should be given sufficient information about:
- The nature of the procedure
- The material risks
- The likely benefits
- Any reasonable alternatives.
That can become particularly important in serious paediatric surgery cases. Where a parent later says they felt pressured into agreeing to an operation, or that the risk profile was not properly explained, that raises questions about whether consent was valid in any real sense.
Questions about consent may also arise in cases involving experimental treatment, multiple surgical options, urgent treatment decisions, or situations where parents say they were not given enough time or information to make an informed decision.
Real-life Example: Addenbrooke’s Hospital
In 2026, recent media reporting concerning paediatric surgery at Addenbrooke’s Hospital has brought these issues into sharp focus. Serious concerns have been raised in relation to an operation carried out in 2015 on a nine-year-old child with complex needs, who tragically died two months later.
According to the reporting, independent reviewers identified significant concerns about the appropriateness of the surgery given the child’s condition and risk profile, as well as concerns about significant blood loss, ongoing pain, and discharge without pre-discharge imaging. A later scan reportedly showed an unhealed and unstable result.
The case has also raised wider questions about clinical governance and oversight. Concerns about the surgeon’s practice had reportedly been raised by colleagues, and the surgeon’s work later came under formal scrutiny.
From a legal perspective, cases of this nature may engage several overlapping issues at once. These may include questions about:
- Informed and voluntary consent
- The risk–benefit profile of the operation
- Sufficient senior and multidisciplinary input;
- Safe post-operative monitoring and discharge planning
- Whether the trust’s governance systems responded appropriately to earlier concerns
The case illustrates why serious treatment concerns in paediatric care often extend beyond the operation itself and into broader questions of safety, communication, and accountability.
Inquests, Complaints & Other Investigations
A civil claim is not the only process available where serious concerns arise about a child’s treatment. Depending on the facts, there may also be a coroner’s inquest, an NHS complaint, an Ombudsman investigation, and professional or regulatory referrals.
Coroner’s Inquest
Where a child has died and the circumstances require investigation, the coroner examines who died, where, and how. In some cases, the coroner may issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report if continuing risks are identified.
An inquest can be highly important for families seeking answers, but it does not determine civil liability.
NHS Complaint & Ombudsman
A complaint to the trust can help obtain explanations and an account of what has been reviewed internally. If the response is inadequate, the matter may be escalated to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Professional & Systemic Oversight
Concerns about individual clinicians may be referred to the General Medical Council or Nursing and Midwifery Council. Wider systems concerns may also be relevant to the Care Quality Commission.
These routes can proceed alongside a negligence claim. In practice, families are often dealing with several of them at once.
A complaint, inquest, internal review, serious incident investigation, or regulatory process can also generate important evidence for a paediatric negligence claim, including medical records, witness accounts, internal findings, and explanations of what went wrong.
Compensation for a Paediatric Negligence Claim
Compensation in a child medical negligence case is intended to reflect both the injury already suffered and the child’s future needs. Depending on the circumstances, that may include:
- Pain and suffering (both physical and psychological)
- Treatment and/or therapy costs
- Specialist education
- Aids and equipment
- Travel expenses
- Care costs
- Accommodation needs
- Loss of future earning capacity.
Where the injury is serious and the long-term picture is still developing, the case may not be suitable for immediate final settlement. In those circumstances, it may sometimes be possible to seek interim payments once liability is admitted, so that rehabilitation or any necessary support can begin before the case concludes.
Any settlement on behalf of a child must be approved by the court. The court checks that the compensation is fair and that it properly protects the child’s interests.
In higher-value child medical negligence claims, compensation may also include case management, private therapies, adapted accommodation, assistive technology, mobility equipment, educational support, deputyship costs, and other long-term needs arising from the injury.
What Happens to the Compensation?
Where a settlement is approved, the damages are usually held for the child until they turn 18. In some cases, part of the money can be released earlier if there is a proper need (e.g. for treatment, specialist equipment, therapy, or educational support).
If the child is unlikely to have capacity to manage the funds as an adult, further arrangements may be needed through the Court of Protection or a deputyship framework.
The court approval process is an important safeguard in any claim for a child. It ensures that any settlement reached is independently reviewed and that the terms of settlement properly protect the child’s present and future interests.
Common Types of Paediatric Negligence Claims
Paediatric negligence claims can arise in many different clinical settings. Common examples include:
- Delayed diagnosis of meningitis, sepsis, appendicitis, cancer, or fractures
- Failures in GP care or out-of-hours services
- Negligent treatment in A&E or urgent care
- Surgical negligence
- Medication errors involving children
- Neonatal negligence and failures in post-birth monitoring
- Radiology errors, including missed scans or delayed reporting
- Failure to refer to an appropriate specialist in time
- Poor monitoring of a deteriorating child in hospital
Making a Medical Negligence Claim for a Child
If you believe your child has been harmed because of negligent medical treatment, early advice can make a real difference. Our specialist solicitors can advise on the right route forward, whether that involves a claim, an inquest, a complaint, or several parallel processes.
To discuss a potential claim on behalf of your child, contact us today.