Latest £3.35m NHS settlement for 1985 birth - Millions more still to be paid

No one knows how any birth will turn out, and no one knows how much more money the NHS (tax-payers) will have to pay when mistakes are made. But what we do know is that NHS litigation bills are already at unaffordable levels (and millions of pounds are yet to paid for claims already made), and that when it comes to birth (in the eyes of the law), the delay or absence of cesarean surgery is the most costly mistake of all. Perhaps if maternity budgets were directly affected by these litigation costs, then more hospitals might remove their target driven pressure to 'reduce cesarean rates'. The NHS can't afford it, and more importantly, mothers and babies deserve better care (you can read the BBC story about 24-year-old Adam Spinks here).