Misdiagnosis leads to lifelong impact

The child's family is suing the Central Coast Local Health District which admits breaching its duty of care to the boy.

The error resulted in permanent torticollis and abnormal fixed posture of the boy's neck, severely restricting his movement.

The boy, now aged 13, has also suffered a chronic major depressive disorder due to the injury and disruption to the normal activities of his life.

The key issue was the likely future economic loss, including the potential for surgeries into the future to manage additional wear and tear on the spine below the point of injury further worsening his condition.

He will be unlikely to work in any occupation involving heavy manual labour, NSW Supreme Court, Judge Stephen Campbell, said.

That involved not just unskilled work which might involve manual labour, but other professions such as engineering which might involved aspects of labouring for which he was no longer suited, due to negligence.

"It's also the case, of course, and one should not overlook this consideration, that from the age of 6 his young life has been disrupted in a material way, which no doubt has led to a very significant loss of amenity and loss of enjoyment of life," Justice Campbell said.

"Given the permanence of the injury, damages for non-economic loss are likely to have been significant," he said.

In determining the claim, Justice Campbell said he had to take into account the cost of future treatment, and economic loss which involved many "imponderables".

The payout figure remains confidential.