A landmark Supreme Court judgment has rewritten the rules of medical negligence compensation, allowing children injured by NHS errors to claim damages for a lifetime of lost earnings.

The ruling in the case of Croke v Wiseman overturns decades of legal precedent and is expected to add billions of pounds to the NHS's already ballooning liability bill. The decision ensures that children whose lives are devastated by avoidable medical errors will now be compensated not just for their care, but for the careers they will never have.

The "Lost Years" Restored

Previously, the law capped claims for "lost earnings" to the years a victim was expected to live. If a child’s life expectancy was significantly reduced by their injury—for example, to age 30—they could only claim lost earnings up to that age. The Supreme Court has now ruled this discriminatory, determining that the child should be compensated for the "lost years" of work they would have performed had they lived a full life. This acknowledges that the injury stole not just their health, but their economic potential.

The case involved a young girl who suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury at birth due to negligence at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. She now requires 24-hour care and has a reduced life expectancy. Under the old rules, her payout was limited. The new ruling means the NHS must pay for the earnings she would have accrued in her 30s, 40s, and 50s, money that will now go to her estate or dependents.

• The Financial Impact: Legal experts estimate this could increase the value of catastrophic injury claims by millions of pounds per case. With the NHS facing £3.1 billion in payouts last year alone, the total liability could skyrocket.
• The Moral Argument: The judges reasoned that limiting damages effectively punished the victim twice: once for the injury that shortened their life, and again by denying them the financial fruits of a full life.
• The NHS Reaction: NHS Resolution, the body that handles claims, warned that the judgment would divert significant resources from frontline care, necessitating a rethink of how clinical negligence is funded.

A Ticking Time Bomb

This judgment arrives at a time when the NHS is under unprecedented financial strain. The "compensation culture" debate is likely to be reignited, with critics arguing that the health service cannot sustain such massive payouts. However, patient safety advocates argue that the only way to reduce the bill is to stop making avoidable mistakes.

The ruling also aligns UK law more closely with other jurisdictions that prioritize full restitution for victims. For the families of injured children, it offers a measure of financial security in an uncertain future. But for the Treasury, it represents a new, unfunded mandate that will require difficult conversations about the cost of justice and the price of negligence.