Mother to sue health trust for £100,000

Published on Thursday 2 July 2009 10:09

A MOTHER has launched a £100,000 action after claiming NHS Lothian failed to alert her that her child could be born with a serious genetic disease.

The woman, now 41, was informed after testing in 1994 that a test for cystic fibrosis had come back negative.

But when she gave birth to her son – now 14 – she found he did in fact have the condition.

The health board had appealed to the Court of Session to dismiss the case, but yesterday a judge ruled on a full hearing.

The woman, who comes from Leith and was identified in the court judgement as JS, is claiming she suffered negligence in her ante-natal care.

NHS Lothian said that while the test did indeed show a negative result for the illness, it was not to blame because it was not responsible for the scientists who carried out the screening test, which was part of a research study by the human genetics unit at Edinburgh University.

Cystic fibrosis is the UK's most common inherited life-threatening disease. It affects the internal organs, particularly the lungs, clogging them with a thick mucus which makes it difficult to breathe and digest food.