Accident & Emergency cases
J v University College Hospital
Mark Bowman was instructed by the
parents of A who died on 5 December 2006 aged eight months after a
hospital had failed to recognise and treat symptoms of meningitis.
The child and his mother were Christmas shopping when he developed
an acute illness. She immediately took him to the A&E
Department at the University College London Hospital (“UCL”).
The baby was not seen by a nurse for over one hour, who then
recorded a very high pulse rate and a temperature of 38.4ºC. Two
hours later he was seen by a junior doctor, by which time he could
barely lift his head and had vomited twice. The doctor performed a
cursory examination and diagnosed tonsillitis. He prescribed
Calpol, Nurofen and Penicillin. He was discharged from hospital
without further treatment or advice from a senior doctor.
On returning home, Mum became increasingly concerned and
contacted Great Ormond Street Hospital. She was advised to take her
baby to the nearest hospital with an A&E Department; the Royal
Free Hospital (RFH).
Time of arrival at RFH was registered at 18:13 and he was seen
within 15 minutes. The triage nurse recognised the symptoms of
meningitis including a rash on his chest and he was immediately
referred to a doctor. Shortly afterwards a diagnosis of
meningococcal septicaemia was made. Sadly, notwithstanding the best
possible treatment, A died at 23:00.
An internal investigation was conducted by the Chief Executive
at UCL. The hospital accepted some mistakes in the way in which A
had been treated and the GMC was called to investigate the actions
of the junior doctor who discharged A.
Nevertheless, when we wrote to the hospital it denied liability
and argued that in any event, even with proper treatment, A would
have died. The hospital suggested that the infection was very
virulent.
We obtained an opinion from a Consultant Paediatrician and
subsequently liability was admitted. Obviously, A’s parents were
distraught at the loss of their son. Following negotiations, the
parents received £50,000.
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At the end of the case, A’s mother said "Throughout the case Mark was very helpful, very
compassionate and very, very good. He would always help and listen
when I was tearful or upset and was more than just my legal
adviser; he was |
M v. St Georges Hospital NHS trust
On 16 November 2002 M began to suffer from a sore throat and by
22:00 hours he had difficulty in breathing. An ambulance was
called. He was taken to St Georges Hospital where he was seen by a
nurse in A&E who failed to refer for appropriate treatment. M
rapidly deteriorated and collapsed. There was a delay in commencing
resuscitation with the result that he died, just after midnight
aged 51.
M had been placed within triage category 4 and directed to the
minor injuries area. Although the triage notes recorded M’s vital
signs they were lifted from observations recorded by the ambulance
crew. Significantly, the nurse failed to act on the fact that the
ambulance crew noted M’s airway as being partially obstructed.
During his admission, M was unable to swallow analgesia. When
the SHO prescribed a Voltarol injection although M was holding his
throat in obvious distress, she attended another patient. When she
returned M was retching and further distressed and she offered him
a bowl in case he was sick. By the time he was seen by the
Specialist Registrar M was so distressed that he quickly became
unconscious.
Resuscitation by bag, mask and CPR was commenced promptly and an
anaesthetist summoned. The Registrar was unable to intubate M. It
was not until the anaesthetist arrived at around 00:15 hours that
intubation was successfully achieved.
The anaesthetist had not been informed of the arrest and
therefore the urgency and there was a significant delay before he
arrived.
Attempts to resuscitate M were unsuccessful.
In fact M had been suffering from upper airway obstruction
caused by epiglottitis and he died as a result of the unrelieved
consequences of this condition.
Richard Earle was instructed to claim
on behalf of M’s estate and to claim a dependency on behalf of his
widow. Following receipt of positive reports from an A&E
consultant and a cardiologist, a letter of claim was sent in July
2005. In the letter of response the Trust admitted liability
leaving only the amount of compensation in issue.
An offer made by the Defendant of £75,000 was rejected.
M had a previous history of hypertension and although he
probably would have worked until full retirement age he had a
reduced life expectancy of around 10 years.
Proceedings were issued in the High Court on 7 November
2005.
At this time we made an offer to settle the claim in the sum of
£130,000 which was accepted.
The case was initially privately funded superseded by Legal Aid
subject to a contribution paid by Mrs M which was returned to her
in full upon recovery of costs from the Defendants.