Accident and Emergency
This is often the first point of contact a patient will have with the NHS due to an illness or after an injury. The staff who practise in emergency medicine have skills in prevention, diagnosis and management.
Case reports
T -v- Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Trust
The Claimant was taken to the Accident & Emergency Department at Calderdale Royal Infirmary after being knocked down by a car
and was diagnosed as having an unstable short spiral fracture of the right femur. Her leg was placed in a splint which had to be re-applied because it was the wrong size. She was admitted to the children’s ward of the hospital. She remained in hospital but there was a failure to monitor the healing process of her leg in the splint, to the extent that poor union of the femur was achieved and her leg was bent when the bone was healed and had a boney protruberance. The bowing of the leg also entailed shortening of the femur and consequently the leg itself.
The case settled for £28,000.00 which included damages for care provided to the Claimant by her parents, the cost of some reconstructive surgery on her scarring and damages for her psychological distress, as well as for the leg injuries overall and for the otherwise would have been unnecessary.
Consent
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All surgeons/ doctors need to obtain the patients consent before embarking on any operation or procedure.
Doctors/ Nurses are under a duty to inform a patient of the recognised risks and benefits of the proposed surgery. It is necessary for the patient to make a informed decision about the operation and in doing so give INFORMED CONSENT.
A claim for medical negligence can be brought if the correct consent is not obtained.
The issue of informed consent has been recently explored by the Government’s Department of Health who have now published guidance entitled “Reference Guide to consent for examination or treatment”.
Paediatric cases can involve complex consent issues as it is the person with parental responsibility who consents for the child.
Case reports
Success following court case
Rachel Donovan, Associate solicitor at John Pickering and Partners was involved in a long battle against The Liverpool Womens’ Hospital NHS Trust involving the issue of informed consent.
Following a hysterectomy procedure the patient suffered from organ failure that left her doubly incontinent.
With hindsight she wished she had never undergone the operation and it was the client’s case that other alternatives should have been offered to her before proceeding to the hysterectomy operation.
The issue of liability was dealt with at court and the patients evidence was favoured and further to this the parties agreed on a lump sum settlement.
Notes
John Pickering and Partners LLP
About Us
Our clients are people who have suffered injury as a result of a medical accident in the UK. We are clinical and medical negligence solicitors. We handle negligence claims against hospitals, GP’s and other medical practitioners for clients across the UK.
We try to obtain maximum amounts of compensation.
We are committed to providing public funding (previously known as Legal Aid) and have a franchise from the Community Legal Services Commission. This means that they have looked at the firm carefully and approved of the way we work. They consider that we are medical negligence claims specialists. They trust us to handle medical accident claims properly.
If you are not eligible for public funding, we can offer a Conditional Fee Agreement, also known as a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement with insurance. We shall check the best method of funding your claim.
All 3 of our offices (Liverpool, Manchester and Halifax) are accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
Claire Horton is an experienced clinical negligence solicitor who is based in our Manchester office. She continues to practice as an independent funding ajudicator for the Legal Services Commission and acts on a pro-bono basis for the AvMA helpline.
For further advice on medical negligence in Liverpool please also contact Rachel Donovan and for Halifax contact Ruth Davies, who are both experienced in the field of clinical negligence.
We provide free initial advice to people seeking information about a potential clinical negligence claim.
If you need advice about a clinical negligence claim, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.