Joshua Rozenberg: "It was every parent's nightmare"

Helen Edwards, from Suffolk, suffered the damage during an operation to remove a birthmark.

The High Court in London awarded her a record �3.9m in damages on Monday - the highest ever award in the UK for an act of medical negligence.

Helen had cosmetic surgery at the private Hope Nursing Home in Cambridgeshire in 1986, when she was five years old.

The operation was to remove a strawberry birthmark on her forehead.

Complications

However, she suffered complications from the anaesthetic and suffered a cardiac arrest, which led to permanent and severe brain damage.

Helen was left blind and unable to crawl, feed or talk, although she is now able to see and has recovered some movement.

Helen was described as a perfectly normal five-year-old before the operation

Daniel Brennan QC, representing the family, told Mr Justice McKinnon that the �3.9m settlement was "an enormous amount of money - the largest amount awarded against any individual doctor so far".

He said the circumstances were "truly tragic". Helen was a perfectly normal five-year-old who went to her local hospital to have a small birthmark removed in what should have been a minor operation, he said.

Dr Thomas Ogg, the consultant anaesthetist during the operation, admitted liability in 1994.

However, it has taken until now for the family to fight for the amount of money they say is needed to provide for their daughter's care regime.

Mr Edwards said after the hearing: "This legal battle has taken a quarter of our lives, so we are very thankful that it is over at last."

'Quality of life'

He said specialists had told him that "Helen deserves a quality of life, not just nursing or institutional care".

Helen's parents said they were relieved it was over

Mr Edwards said the award "will seem like a lot of money to most people, but Helen must pay others to facilitate her every activity, 24 hours a day".

"Every penny of the award is needed to provide the quality of life which Helen deserves. As her parents, we will continue to work hard to ensure the money lasts to provide as happy and fulfilling a life for her as possible."

The award follows a spate of record awards to patients in medical negligence cases.

Sandra Patton, the Edwards family's solicitor, said this was because rulings were more realistic aabout the cost of caring for people with severe brain damage.

The Edwards famliy's solicitor Sandra Patton: "Severe injuries"

She said a ruling in the House of Lords had also helped push up the sums awarded.

Previously courts awarded money on the understanding that the family would invest it in the stockmarket to create enough income to pay for care.

But during the summer this changed, Ms Patton said.

"The House of Lords decided that plaintiffs should no longer have to speculate on the stock market and take risks with their money, which they will need for the rest of their lives," she said.

"They are now able to invest more securely, but that obviously requires for them to have a much larger capital sum."

The previous highest award was almost �3.3m, which was made to Sam Mansell in October this year.

He was severely disabled at birth, and has athetoid cerebral palsy after being starved of oxygen during delivery by Caesarean section in 1987.