Family of brain damaged girl, 11, sue hospital over glue injection

'Tragic incident': An 11-year-old girl was left brain-damaged when a doctor at great Ormond Street allegedly injected her with glue after mixing up two syringes
12 April 2012

The family of an 11-year-old girl is suing Great Ormond Street children's hospital after a doctor allegedly injected glue into her brain after mixing up two syringes.

The incident left Maisha Najeeb, from Redbridge, with severe brain damage and unable to move, say her family.

The accident happened while Maisha was having a routine operation at the central London hospital last June to relieve an arteriovenous malformation in her skull.

The rare condition involves arteries and veins getting tangled and occurs in about one per cent of people. It can cause bleeding and is particularly serious when it affects the brain.

Maisha's family claim two syringes got mixed up in the operating theatre because they were not labelled. One contained glue to treat her blood vessels, the other a dye to highlight blood flow in her head during surgery.

It is alleged the glue was injected into an artery before passing to her brain, causing extensive damage. Maisha is now in a wheelchair and needs 24-hour care. Her father Sajid Hussain, a financial adviser, told the Guardian: "Before this she was top of her class in primary school, loved dancing and poetry, and her ambition was to be a doctor.

"I want to know that hospitals... will put adequate systems in place to make sure no child suffers in this way again." The family's lawyer, Edwina Rawson, said: "This tragic incident could have been avoided had the syringes been marked in a way that made them distinguishable."

A spokesman for the hospital said: "The Trust immediately apologised sincerely to Maisha and her family. We would like to reiterate these apologies.

"The Trust has undertaken a comprehensive investigation of Maisha's care, and implemented changes to improve our systems and processes.

"Naturally we are in ongoing contact with the family to provide them with support, and we have of course shared the findings of our investigation with them.

"It is inappropriate for us to discuss Maisha's treatment in the public domain. Our duty of care remains to Maisha and her family."

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