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.
General Practice
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Everybody in one time of their life will come into contact with their general practitioner. It is a relationship based on trust and that is why many patients find it hard to claim against their GP.
In our experience the General Practitioner can fail their patients by:
- Failure to treat cancer cases by making urgent referrals
- Over prescribing of medication
- Prescribing medication to unsuitable patients.
- Failure to examine causing patients to suffer avoidable strokes
- Failure to examine causing missed fractures and dislocations.
Case report
T –v- GP
The Claimant was 41 when she attended her GP with heavy periods in January 2000. Despite the Claimant’s age, obesity, smoking 10-12 a day and an elevated blood pressure, the GP prescribed the combined oral contraceptive pill, microgynon.
Three weeks later the Claimant suffered a stroke with paralysis of her right side and loss of speech.
An opinion from an independent GP was obtained which concluded that the standard of care provided by the GP during the consultant in January 2000 fell below an acceptable standard of care when prescribing microgynon 30.
An opinion was then obtained from Professor of Venous Surgery who confirmed that due to the substandard care the Claimant obtained from her GP, she suffered a major stroke.
Stroke
This is defined as a sudden neurological deficit presumed to be of vascular cause. Most frequently, the patient suffers paralysis or partial paralysis of one side of the body which maybe associated with loss of speech, slurred speech, visual disturbances or abnormal cognitive function. Stroke is most frequently caused by cerebral ischaemia but approximately 25% of strokes are due to haemorrhage into the brain (cerebral haemorrhage).
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.