Brent councillor sues the NHS for £1.5m after botched treatment leaves her infertile
Cllr Sarah Marquis is suing the NHS for �1.5m (Pic credit: Brent Council) - Credit: Archant
A Brent councillor and top City lawyer, whose dreams of motherhood were devastated by botched hospital treatment, is suing the NHS.
Cllr Sarah Marquis, 41, Labour councillor for the Barnhill ward, was “rendered infertile” when her appendix burst in October 2008.
Medics at Hackney’s Homerton Hospital failed to spot that she needed emergency surgery, the High Court heard.
Cllr Marquis, who specialised in investigating white collar crime, says that, as well as blighting her hopes of having a family, the after effects of the blunder forced her to take three and a half years off work, and ruined her chances of fulfilling her career potential.
She is suing Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for £1.5million in damages.
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The trust admits liability for her injuries, has offered her £300,000 and publicly apologised to her but they dispute how much compensation she deserves.
They insist that, had she not become infertile, her career would have been hampered by the children she would otherwise have had.
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Judge Robert Owen QC heard that Cllr Marquis, who lives in Wembley, was admitted to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain after visiting her GP.
However no emergency action was taken for three days before surgeons worked out that she needed her appendix removed.
By that time the organ was “gangrenous” and “perforated” and had burst, causing a grave abdominal infection that ended her hopes of naturally conceiving a child with her partner of over a decade.
Cllr Marquis was earning £85,000 with City law firm, DLA Piper, at the time she fell ill.
The court heard that she has refused to give up on her dream of motherhood since her illness.
She has undergone IVF - so far unsuccessfully - in bid to get pregnant.
The hearing continues.
