A peer and Bradford councillor whose child’s cancer was missed by doctors has urged the Government to rethink plans on removing legal aid from clinical negligence cases.
Baroness Eaton joined members on all sides of the House of Lords in calling on ministers to make concessions.
During the committee stage of the Government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, Lady Eaton who is a Bingley Rural councillor said: “The proposals to remove clinical negligence entirely from the scope of legal aid will have an enor-mous impact on the most serious cases of clinical negligence, especially where catastrophic injuries have occurred.”
She said that clinical negligence cases affected not only the child but their parents and wider family.
“Having a child myself who was wrongly diagnosed with a psychosomatic illness which was in fact a very virulent form of bone and tissue cancer, I understand something of the trauma felt by such families," Lady Eaton said.
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