Medical Negligence Case: £20,000 compensation received
A medical negligence case recently completed by Neil Austin, Head of our Clinical Negligence Department, demonstrates the risks of GPs adopting a “wait and see” policy when treating what initially appears to be a minor ailment, and the potential difficulties caused by patients having to see different GPs within the GPs’ practice. Neil has been granted permission by his client to disclose details of the case.
Our client was a patient of a Great Yarmouth GPs’ practice, and initially attended with what appeared to be an infection to a toe. The initial treatment did not work – on the contrary, the pain and symptoms and restricted mobility increased. Our client continued to attend the practice, and on different occasions, saw different GPs, but there was no urgent referral to the local hospital to be seen by a vascular surgeon, despite the increased concern of our client’s family and their best attempts to have our client seen by a specialist a lot sooner.
Sadly, the infection eventually became so bad that our client ended up with gangrene, and it was only then that a GP from the surgery arranged for immediate admission to hospital. By that time, it was too late and our client had to undergo amputation.
The different insurance companies for the GPs involved fought the case hard, alleging that there was no negligence but even if there had been negligence then it would not have made any difference. Neil used his experience to instruct two suitable Experts:- one on GP standards and the other on Vascular Surgery, and also instructed a suitably experienced Barrister to act on a No Win No Fee Agreement. We acted on a No Win No Fee Agreement with our client from the start and we were able to obtain an insurance policy to protect our client in respect of legal expenses.
It was necessary to issue legal proceedings, but shortly after doing so, and without the need to proceed to a Court Hearing, Neil was able to successfully secure a payment of compensation for our client of £20,000.00, which our client and family were extremely pleased to have recovered.
We are grateful to our client for allowing us to disclose details of the case. If you, or a family member, have suffered due to medical negligence and would like Neil Austin to look at your case, please call him on 01493 856997 or use our contact form.