The mother of a nine-year-old girl who became the first person in Britain to have air pollution recorded on his death certificate will receive an undisclosed settlement from the government in compensation for her daughter’s untimely death.
In settlement of a lawsuit, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care issued a statement expressing their sincere condolences to the family of Ella Kissi-Debrah, from South East London, who suffered a fatal asthma attack in 2013 after exposure to excessive air pollution.
In a 2020 inquest, a coroner ruled that exposure to air pollution had made “a material contribution” to her death. Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah has campaigned to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution and earlier this year filed legal proceedings against the three government departments for compensation for personal injuries resulting from the illness and premature death of her daughter Ella.
The statement from the ministers with the three departments reads: “On behalf of the government departments that were parties to the claim, we once again take this opportunity to say that we sincerely regret your loss and to express our sincere condolences to you as Ella’s mother. to her brothers and sisters, and to all who knew her.
“Your words, both in this lawsuit and in your public campaign, have had a significant impact.
“Young children like Ella should not have to suffer because of our skies. We are grateful for your tireless work, and we sincerely hope that, by working together in the years to come, we can achieve more in improving not only the quality of the air we breathe, but also in increasing awareness of the health consequences. of air pollution.”
Ella’s family lived about 25 yards from the busy South Circular in South London and Ella regularly walked past it on her way to and from school. She developed asthma shortly before her seventh birthday and was hospitalized 27 times over the next two years after repeated attacks. A few weeks after her ninth birthday, she suffered the fatal asthma attack.
Medical staff had not identified air pollution as a possible cause of her ill health before her death. Her mother later said that moving “would have been the first thing” the family would have done if they had known the risks air pollution posed to Ella.
Adoo-Kissi-Debrah was due to meet Defra Minister Emma Hardy on Thursday and planned to tell her she would continue campaigning for tougher air pollution legislation, with the aim of passing Ella’s Bill, which the government would force the adoption of a target of reducing PM2.5 particle pollution to 10 micrograms per cubic meter by 2030, ten years earlier than the current commitment.
She said she would tell the minister that the government needed to take urgent action to improve air quality. “I have been fighting for justice for Ella for over fourteen years. Firstly, to find out what made her so seriously ill, and secondly, to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution.
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“Nothing can ever compensate for the pain and suffering that Ella has gone through, or the trauma of losing a beloved daughter and sister at such a young age. The loss to our family is immeasurable,” Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said.
“I believe that every child has the right to breathe clean air, regardless of where they live, their ethnic background or their economic status. Ella’s story has inspired change and I will continue to use her legacy to hold authorities to account.”
The family’s lawyer, Susie Labinjoh, of Hodge Jones & Allen, said: “This has been a long and uphill battle for Rosamund. The settlement is a sign of her sheer determination to gain recognition for her daughter’s pain and suffering from those responsible for tackling air pollution.”
In legal documents at the start of the legal action, the government’s legal team said Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s lawyers had valued the claim at a value of £293,156, but the government believed the claim was worth a maximum of £30,000 could be if it were successful.