The NHS will have to pay more in lawsuits after a Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday. The court said that children in England injured at birth can claim damages for future earnings lost because their life expectancy is shortened. This ruling on "lost years damages" means compensation will now cover the income these children would have earned. Lawyers say this corrects a "historic injustice." James Drydale, the lawyer for a girl called CCC, stated, "The supreme court today has put right an historic injustice which set injured children’s rights in negligence cases at a lesser level than those of an adult." CCC suffered serious brain damage in Sheffield in 2015 due to a midwife's mistakes during her mother's labour. She has cerebral palsy, cannot eat, walk, or talk, and is expected to live only until age 29. Her family was awarded £6.8 million and £350,000 annually for her care but was denied compensation for lost future earnings. The family appealed directly to the Supreme Court, which ruled by four to one in their favour, overturning 40 years of legal practice since 1981 when children could not claim "lost years" damages. Drydale explained, "This ruling will make childbirth negligence cases more expensive for the NHS to settle. It will mean more compensation. Undoubtedly, there will be more compensation for the NHS in future in cases where children have had their life shortened as a result of being a victim of negligence." The High Court will now consider the family's request for an additional £800,000 to cover CCC’s lost earnings and pension between ages 29 and 85, the average UK female life expectancy. Paul Whiteing, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said, "This judgment will undoubtedly add to an already significant cost of clinical negligence. But as parliament’s public accounts committee recently said, preventing harm from happening in the first place is the most effective way to reduce the widespread impact of clinical negligence." Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, called the ruling "monumental" for children injured by medical negligence.