High Court praise for blind schoolgirl

A High Court judge has told a girl that she should not let her blindness stop her following in his footsteps.

Ellie Childs lost her sight after she developed retinopathy of prematurity after she was born at just 24 weeks at Kingston Hospital in Surrey on New Year’s Eve 1999.

Despite being completely blind in her right eye and only being able to detect light and large objects with her left, 10-year-old Ellie was a “very impressive child”, counsel Chris Johnston told Mr Justice David Steel at a hearing in London.

“She is doing exceptionally well at school, particularly in maths, and has got a great group of friends.”

Mr Johnston asked the judge to approve an agreed settlement against Kingston Hospital NHS Trust of a 430,000 lump sum plus lifetime inflation-linked payments of 14,000 a year starting in 2021.

This settlement was, said counsel, a “reasonable and fair compromise”.

Yesterday, the judge wished “good fortune” to Ellie, who lives in Teddington, Middlesex, with her father, Simon, and older sister.

She sat at the front of the courtroom as he told her: “The world is open to you – it might interest you to know that quite a few of my colleague judges are blind so there is no reason to think you cannot do work which some might think is only open to sighted people.”

Ellie’s case was that, during screening in April 2000, there was a failure to recognise that her eye condition had reached a stage where drastic treatment was needed.

The NHS Trust strongly denied the allegation and maintained that a competent examination had been performed, said Mr Johnston.

He added that it was a difficult case as it had been “appropriately and robustly” defended on the basis of expert evidence.

Even experts supporting Ellie’s case said that errors in diagnosis could occur and that it was possible for the condition to deteriorate in a week.

By the time Ellie received treatment, it was too late to stop her being functionally blind, he said, but even with timely treatment she would have had restricted vision.

Mr Johnston said that Ellie was a “real credit” to the love and devotion shown by her father and her mother, Doris, who had both focused on what was best for her, even though they had divorced.