A SEVERELY brain damaged teenager could have led a normal life if she had been delivered an hour earlier, a court was told.

Mary McGowen, now 18, was awarded £1.39 million damages. The High Court heard she has cerebral palsy and will never lead an independent life, work or marry.

Mary, who lives with parents Una, 64, and Ronald, 73, in New Park Avenue, Bexhill, is the couple's only child, born when her mother was 45.

The couple had devoted themselves to her daughter since her birth, Peter Andrews QC told the court.

He said staff at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, where Mary was born in August 1980, failed to diagnose asphyxia and deliver her before she suffered brain damage.

He added: "An hour could have been saved before the birth, and that hour could have saved the damage to the unborn child."

Approving the award against Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority - which denied liability but consented to the settlement - Mr Justice Buckley authorised an immediate £1,000 payment to the family for a holiday. He offered his sympathy and admiration and wished them well for the future.

Michael Horne, for the authority, said: "The health authority publicly wishes to recognise the care and devotion of Mary's parents, without which she could not have achieved the potential and quality of life that she has."

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