Natasha Colley sued the NHS for £7.3 million claiming doctors made errors which lead to her daughter Megan being disabled. Following social media posts, her daughter was seen dancing and singing in a stage show, as a result Natasha potentially faces jail.
In 2016 a legal claim was launched after allegations were made about doctors failing to correct issues during operations when Megan was younger. She had been born with displaced hips which were not identified and addresses early enough. Hull NHS Trust admitted to negligence but valued the claim at £65,000 whereas Mrs Colley is reported to have sought £7.3 million, claiming that as a result of the medical error Megan was reliant on a wheelchair.
The claim never reached trial as Megan accepted the £65,000 offer just days before the claim was due to be heard in court, but now her mother faces accusations of allegedly lying about the full extent of her daughter's disabilities. The court was shown various videos and social media posts that showed Megan was not reliant on a wheelchair and in fact was seen dancing.
Stuart Bramley of Tozers LLP's Medical Negligence team writes -
"In any medical claim one of the challenges is assessing to what extent a Claimant's disability and day to day problems arise from the allegedly-substandard treatment and what instead results from other, non-negligent factors. To an extent every lawyer fighting to secure justice and compensation is dependent on what the client tells him or her. Megan Colley's case is an interesting one, since there was clearly a failure to diagnose her hip problems, hence the damages already agreed by the hospital involved. What is being claimed here however is that even though those damages compensate Megan for her genuine problems resulting from that blunder, her mother gave evidence that the problems were much more significant, for example resulting in her daughter requiring a wheelchair. The court must determine whether that is in fact true, with Megan having triumphed in dancing and performing despite the serious hip condition she will suffer for life, or whether Mrs Colley has been less than straightforward about her daughter’s limitations."
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