Not everybody is happy with their healthcare. Advice from solicitors who are not only versed in the relevant law, but who also understand medical and social service practice and what options you have, may save you a lot of trouble.
Healthcare is governed by a huge range of legislation and regulation. It is a veritable minefield for both professionals and patients. There are rules about the level of service you can expect and rules about who must fund the care or treatment you need.
From practice in the Special Care Baby Unit to ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ orders brought into effect at the end of life there are standards and rules. We will be able to advise you if you need to know what those rules or standards are.
It may be that something has gone wrong and you seek some form of redress. It may be that you are worried that things are going wrong and you want to sort matters out before any damage is done.
We handle a wide variety of cases for victims of medical accidents. We bring claims against hospitals, doctors in private practice, dentists and the entire range of alternative medicine practitioners.
Our clients are adults and children who have received treatment, which has either not produced the expected result or which has made their condition worse. We can provide advice and assistance with the hospital complaints procedure and with the post-mortem and inquest process.
We also provide an advocacy service for people who are dissatisfied with the service they are receiving from the NHS or from social services or long term care homes.
We have particular expertise in the fields of obstetrics, gynaecology and currently handle several claims for children with cerebral palsy related to sub-standard care at birth.
Helen Goatley, the head of department, is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel and is a member of the board of trustees for Headway Surrey, a local charity providing services to brain injured people and their families. She is also the Chair of the Surrey Acquired Brain Injury Network.
Recent Cases:
Some examples of the many cases we have acted on include:
- A claim for a 33 year old lady, who's GP failured to diagnose DVT. The Claimant experienced a burning pain in her right calf a week following the dislocation of her right patella. She had a personal and family history of deep vein thrombosis of which the Defendant was or ought to have been aware. These factors necessitated a referral to the hospital, which did not take place until three weeks later. This delay led to the development of a very extensive deep DVT in her right leg and the subsequent development of a post-thrombotic limb. The claim was settled for £84,250.00.
- A claim for an 80 year old lady who suffered a perforated bowel following a colonoscopy (examination of the large colon). The colonoscopy was undertaken to try and find the cause of our client's anaemia. The client suffered excrutiating pain following the operation and had to spend a couple of days in the Intensive Therapy Unit. She suffered a chest infection and was poorly for a period after her discharge from hospital. The claim was settled for £6,000.
- A claim for a 34 year old lady who was negligently prescribed an antibiotic, to which she was known to be allergic (her medical records clearly noted this allergy). As a result, the client suffered an angry rash over her body ten days after first taking the antibiotic. Thereafter she suffered breathing difficulties and had to be seen by the emergency doctor. Our client also suffered panic attacks and was bedridden for four days. The claim was settled for £3,000.
- A claim for a 77 year old gentleman who was supplied with the wrong blood during a blood transfusion. He was suffering from cancer and died shortly after. It was not claimed that the faulty blood transfusion cuased his death. Ho> wever as a result of the transfusion, the client suffered so severely from a cognitive / psychological point of view that, tragically, he never again held a proper conversation with his wife or family. The claim settled for £7,500.
- A Claim for a thirty eight year old woman, who was admitted to hospital, for investigations following an episode of acute confusion and fever. Whilst in hospital, the Claimant was not being observed adequately and as she became increasingly more confused, she crept under her bed and caught her hand on some metal work and sustained a serious injury. The claim settled for £6,000.
List of clinical negligence cases settled over the last few years:
- A 26 year old girl had her internal anal sphincter removed mistakenly thought to be a skin tag rendering her permanently incontinent. She received £45,000 in damages.
- A girl in her 20’s woke up during a gynaecological operation where the anaesthetists had negligently failed to administer the correct dose of anaesthesia to her. She was awake but completely paralysed and suffered psychological problems thereafter. An agreed settlement was reached of £40,000
- A young female student had her facial nerve lasered in a routine stapendectomy operation carried out to rectify hearing loss. She had permanent facial palsy as a result. She received £40,000 in compensation
- A widow with 3 children suffered an injury to her facial nerve when a sharp dental instrument was accidently pushed up through her gum by her dentist when removing a tooth. She received £25,000.
- A woman received £40,000 after winning her case against a hospital where the doctors failed to diagnose a strangulated hernia thinking she was constipated. She later had part of her bowel removed and suffered recurrent hernias
- A mother received £25,000 in an agreed settlement when the hospital failed to treat her broken wrist correctly leaving her with permanent pain and restriction of movement
- A young woman received £35,000 in compensation when for 13 years she was wrongly diagnosed and treated for Non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
- A woman who had just given birth to her second son had an emergency dialysis line put in her neck. She suffered a stroke after the line was negligently removed by a nurse causing an air embolism to travel up to her brain. As a result she was brain damaged and had severe visual problems. An agreement on quantum was reached only weeks before trial of nearly a £1million.
