Legal bid over brain damaged boy

The parents of a brain-damaged Black Country boy have launched a legal bid to establish whether hospital blunders are to blame for his condition.

They allege their son Josiah Ellis, now aged two, was starved of oxygen during his birth at Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, which led to him developing cerebral palsy.

Lotti and Marc Ellis, aged 35 and 43, from Sedgley have now contacted a solicitor who is investigating the matter.

Mrs Ellis said today: "We love our son no matter what and I am grateful that he managed to survive."

But she said he had been deprived of a normal future.

Mrs Ellis was taken to Russells Hall after her waters broke shortly before midnight on January 15, 2009. It is alleged she was left under the care of a junior midwife and never saw a senior midwife or doctor throughout her delivery, even when things became difficult.

The family also says Josiah was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and had to be revived by an emergency resuscitation team, which then rushed him to a special care unit.

Josiah was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 20 months, meaning he has poor coordination, difficulty controlling his body and also suffers from involuntary movements.

Speaking out during National Birth Trauma Awareness Week, which takes place this week, Mrs Ellis added: "I was devastated when I didn't hear Josiah's first cry. It took six minutes to stabilise him and he suffered brain injuries due to lack of oxygen.

"After 20 months we finally received the diagnosis every parent dreads to hear: cerebral palsy."

Lindsay Gibb, a medical law expert with Irwin Mitchell solicitors, representing the couple said: "We are in the early stages of investigating what happened to Lotti and Josiah."

A spokesman for Russells Hall Hospital chief executive Paula Clark said : "The trust is unable to comment on individual patients due to patient confidentiality."