AN 11-year-old girl, left desperately disabled by medical blunders during her hospital birth, has won the right to massive compensation.

Laura Anne Smith will never be able to look after herself after her mother, who was just 19 at the time, was given an overdose of a labour-inducing drug before her June, 1990, delivery.

In London yesterday, Deputy High Court judge Stuart Brown ruled Newcastle and North Tyneside Health Authority fully liable to compensate Laura Ann for her devastating disabilities.

Although the amount of her damages has yet to be assessed, millions of pounds have been awarded in other cases where children have suffered similar injuries at birth.

Laura Anne's mother, Jane Brown, had suffered from pre-eclampsia - a condition causing high blood pressure - when the decision was taken to induce labour.

She was given the drug Oxytocin and the judge said it was well recognised that both the amount and duration of the dose had to be carefully monitored.

He told the court the dose of Oxytocin given was "excessive" and its effects on the expectant mother had neither been adequately monitored nor responded to.

The judge rejected the health authority's case that Laura Anne may already have suffered brain damage in the womb before the drug was administered.

Neither Laura, nor her mother, of Hollinside Terrace, Pipebridge Estate, Rowlands Gill, Gateshead, were in court to hear the judge's ruling.

If final settlement terms cannot be agreed, the amount of Laura Anne's damages will have to be assessed at another court hearing.