A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl awarded £2.81m damages last year for hospital negligence that left her brain damaged was yesterday facing an Appeal Court bid to strip her of part of the money.

Hospital authority lawyers claim Bethany Ruff was over-compensated for injuries she suffered in 1993 due to admitted negligence a few days after her birth in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Bethany had been born ten weeks premature and when she began to suffer breathing difficulties, her parents, Helen and Aidan Ruff, of Ellingham Hall, Northumberland, took her back to the hospital, on New Year's Eve 1993.

But she was not officially admitted and doctors failed to give incubation or mechanical ventilation. Bethany suffered brain damage and now suffers from cerebral palsy.

The NHS Trust is challenging the amount of the award, claiming it was based on an unrealistic prediction of how long she is likely to survive. Its counsel, Mr Michael de Navarro QC, argued at London's Appeal Court that the damages should have been assessed on the basis that she would only survive to 22.

If that argument succeeds, the damages may be reduced by about £500,000. The judges are likely to reserve their decision until a later date.