A MOTHER has won a five-year fight to prove her baby died as a result of medical negligence.

Matthew Renwick died two days before his first Christmas in 1995 after his mother Joanne took him to hospital.

Matthew was vomiting continuously and doctors diagnosed gastroenteritis, though Mrs Renwick was convinced it was more serious.

The ten-month-old baby deteriorated throughout the day and died the following day.

Doctors later told Mrs Renwick, of Blaydon, Gateshead, that he died from colitis, an inflammation of the colon.

She felt doctors should have spotted the problem in light of her son's medical history.

Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary denied medical negligence, but office administrator Mrs Renwick, 34, and her spray painter husband Jimmy, 34, have now been awarded an undisclosed sum running into thousands of pounds in an out of court settlement.

Mrs Renwick, who has two daughters Nicola, eight and Abbey, two, said: "Hopefully, Matthew did not die in vain and it will be an example that might save other children and stop their parents going through the agony we have.

"We can't go out and buy him back again, so the money really isn't important to us.

A legal spokesman for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Everyone involved is very upset that this happened. We would not have agreed a payment unless we accepted there were reasons to justifiably criticise the treatment the boy received while in hospital."