Clinical Negligence Success Stories

£100,000 Awarded for unnecessary surgery

Julia underwent surgery in March 2006 to remove a malformation from her back. During surgery there was significant blood loss and a transfusion was required. She feels that she was not offered any alternative treatment.

Following the operation the Julia was advised that there had been a problem during the operation and that some of the muscle in her back had been removed with quite a lot of the malformation.

Julia has continued to suffer continuous back pain ranging from a dull, heavy ache to a sharp pain, also tenderness in the area of the malformation. She can no longer lie on her back and any pressure on her back is painful. She also suffers headaches which are almost constant and range from a moderate nagging pain to being so severe that she cannot even stand up.

Julia has been depressed by the after effects of the surgery as she is unable to run after her children or pick them up or do the usual things that she used to do. She is concerned that her children see her as someone who is always ill and always needs to lie down. She does not have the same energy she used to, and she feels that this is affecting her relationship with her partner.

Tim Jones of the clinical negligence team, investigated Julia's claim, arguing Julia's point that the surgery should never have taken as there were alternative treatments that she should have been offered.

Tim managed to agree a settlement for Julia and she was awarded £100,000.00 in compensation.

Julia is relieved that this "life changing amount of money" will provide both her and her family with the financial security that she feels is so important for their future.

If you or anyone you know have been affected by similar circumstances and would like some specialist legal advice please contact us on 0800 694 044, email us at: injury@footanstey.com or click here to contact us by other means.

£123,000 awarded for negligent dental treatment

A woman in her forties has been awarded £123,000 after a dentist failed to diagnose and treat a severe dental problem.

Simone was a patient of the same dentist for 20 years. She was careful to attend regularly for check-ups. Each time she went, she was relieved to be told that her teeth were fine and did not require work.

Simone then developed an abscess on a wisdom tooth and saw an out of hours dentist. She was advised that she had 'very big problems' and was prescribed antibiotics. Her own dentist however said that the other dentist was 'scaremongering' and confirmed that there was nothing to worry about.

She suffered toothache from the time of her first emergency appointment. Her own dentist never emphasised the presence of gum disease or what the implications were.

Eventually he referred her to a hygienist stating in the referral letter that the client suffered from chronic gingivitis/periodontitis, which had deteriorated over the last year. This was the first time this was mentioned.

Simone then attended a different dental practice where it was confirmed she was suffering from chronic periodontitis. She had receded gums and bone loss in all quadrants. Most teeth were loose. They referred her to the University of Bristol Dental Hospital.

Simone has suffered significant bone loss in her teeth, recession and teeth mobility. As a result, she requires dental implants and will also require lifelong specialist periodontal therapy.

Because of this Simone has suffered both physically with severe, continual toothache and mentally, which has prevented her from going out and from eating in public, she also feels that her speech has been affected.

Tim Jones of the clinical negligence team at Foot Anstey has represented Simone in this matter and secured her compensation totalling £123,000.00

Simone will now be able to fund the necessary immediate course of dental treatment, the lifelong follow-up care she is going to need and the counselling she needs to help with the emotional trauma caused

£3.65m for delays in diagnosis and treatment of spinal stenosis

Andrew is achondroplasic (a dwarf). One of the recognised complications of achondroplasia is spinal stenosis where the spinal canal narrows , symptoms include pain, numbness, pins and needles and loss of motor control.

Andrew began to suffer from these symptoms in March and they got steadily worse. He suffered pins and needles in his legs and feet, signs of incontinence and had difficulty walking. It took a further three months for him to be diagnosed.

At this point he was listed for urgent surgery at the end of June, but he was overlooked , collapsed at the end of August and was admitted for emergency surgery at that point.

Unfortunately the 2 month delay caused irretrievable damage. As a result Andrew is now doubly incontinent, can only walk with a walking frame, is unable to work and this has led to the break up of his marriage.

Although the NHS Trust involved admitted delay they did not accept any breach of duty saying that the outcome would have been the same if the surgery had taken place in June as intended.

Chris Thorne, partner in the clinical negligence team, sought expert reports and was able to show that Andrew's condition deteriorated significantly in the two months between when the surgery should have taken place and when it actually did.

Through Chris' persistence Andrew has now received a lump sum in excess of £1m and further periodical payments of £80,000 per annum rising to £120,000 as he grows older to meet his care needs for the rest of his life, all of which totals £3.65m.

If you or anyone you know has suffered as a result of delay in diagnosis and/or treatment and would like some expert legal advice then please contact us on 0800 694 044, email us at: injury@footanstey.com or click here to contact us by other means.

Compensation for missed liver disease donated to charity

Mrs Joyce Vowles, a confident, independent and active woman was 74 when she underwent surgery for a routine hernia repair in May 2006.

A blood test some 10 years earlier had indicated liver disease and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) although this was not acted upon with any further tests or treatment. During the pre-op checks for the hernia repair, her blood test was again not normal and again this was not followed up and the surgery went ahead that day as planned.

Four hours after the operation, Mrs Vowles noticed a bleed and swelling around the wound and a pressure dressing was applied over the wound and she was discharged 3 days later.

The swelling did not subside so Mrs Vowles was seen by her GP who noticed how jaundiced Mrs Vowles was and ordered liver function tests and referred her to the gastroenterology team at Musgrove Park Hospital. Mrs Vowles was diagnosed with cirrhotic primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in September 2006.

Mrs Vowles' liver stopped working correctly as a result of the surgery. She became jaundice and developed excess fluid in her abdomen (ascites) .

In December2007 she was admitted for this fluid to be drained and developed a severe infection. Mrs Vowles suffered a dramatic deterioration in confidence, quality of life, mobility and outlook before her death in January 2008. Her family also believe that without the surgery Mrs Vowles may have lived longer.

If Mrs Vowles had been diagnosed with primary biliary cirrhosis, she would not have had the surgery and would have enjoyed a further 15 months of the independent and active life she had before.

Laura Millman and Tim Jones of the clinical negligence team at Foot Anstey represented Mrs Vowles family and secured £21,500 in compensation which they now intend to donate to the PBC Foundation.

For further information on PBC and the PBC Foundation go to: http://www.pbcfoundation.org.uk

Lessons learned from errors during labour which caused new born death

Bereaved parents have received £74,144.43 following the neonatal death of their Daughter in 2009.

Errors were made by the Trust during Mrs Timms' labour in August 2009. She was not adequately monitored, the baby's heart trace was not correctly interpreted and therefore the results were not escalated to the appropriate level of clinician.

The baby was born by crash caesarean-section but her heart was not beating. She was resuscitated and placed on a ventilator.

The lack of oxygen during delivery had caused irreparable brain injury. The decision was made to turn off the life support and she sadly, passed away.

Mr and Mrs Timms were very anxious to get measures in place to limit the chances of this happening to others so Claire Stoneman, partner in the clinical negligence team at Foot Anstey also asked the Trust to implement non-monetary remedies as follows:

To ensure all practising midwives undergo more rigorous heart monitor training
To ensure senior midwives and obstetricians have regular training on how to deal with a busy labour ward
To ensure high risk patients are physically reviewed during labour by a consultant and a plan made accordingly
To ensure a plan is in place to deal with staff shortages or a busy ward.

The Trust confirmed it had:

Scheduled a CTG master class which encompassed all CTG training. They also obtained funding for the K2 CTG electronic software (a training package for CTG monitoring)
The Trust has made funding provisions for training both for CTG monitoring and also a course for "situational leadership" in a busy labour ward to be attended by senior midwives, consultant obstetricians and Labour ward co-ordinator
The ward round processes have been reviewed and as a result all high risk patients are physically reviewed by Consultants and a plan made during the ward round for further management of the patient
The Trust constantly reviews staffing, in line with birth rate analysis. This analysis is taken to ensure adequate staffing and workforce analysis is achieved. Further, staffing is monitored on a monthly basis as part of the Maternity Dashboard (a governance tool).

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