Medical Negligence: Diagnosing Illness

When we feel ill or run down we visit our local GP, or depending on the seriousness of our illness, A&E. When we are looked over by our doctor we trust that they will be able to give us an initial diagnosis depending upon our symptoms. Hopefully, in most cases it wont be too serious and a prescription will be able to cure it.

In some unfortunate cases this is exactly what doctors have done. Patients have then returned on numerous visits still complaining of illness. In some cases, a patient visited their A&E centre 11 times before they were given a correct diagnosis of their illness. Unfortunately, in this case the patient was suffering from cancer and by the time medics diagnosed it, it was too late to cure the disease.
Read More

The importance of taking a full drug history

Whenever you are seen by a medical practitioner, you should always make sure that the practitioner is aware of any drugs that you may be taking which could effect the treatment you are given. If this is not done, it could have devastating effects.

In one case reported in May 2010 by the Medical Protection Society, a 30-year old seemingly fit and healthy looking male was actually being treated with an immunosuppressive for his rheumatoid arthritis. Unrelated to this, he attended the A&E department of his local hospital with symptoms of an itchy rash and a general lack of energy.

The junior doctor who saw the patient recognised the rash as chicken pox and noted that he had not suffered with this common disease in his childhood. The doctor informed the patient of his diagnosis and advised him to stay at home and take paracetamol and use calamine lotion to reduce the itch. At no point did he check what prescription medications the patient may be taking.
Read More

20-Year Old Medical Negligence – Claimable?

Any personal injury lawyer will tell you that a claimant has only 3 years to bring a claim to court. If it is not brought within this time, the claim is barred from being brought at court.

However, this time limit does not necessarily run from the time when the negligence claimed for actually occurred. The time actually runs from the date of the cause of the action or from the date of knowledge of the negligence, whichever is the later. In cases such as car crash claims, this distinction is not often important as those involved in the accident are usually aware of it as soon as it occurs. However, this can be a very important distinction in cases of medical negligence where you may be unaware of your doctor’s negligence for some time.
Read More

Dentist legal case settled out of court

Medical negligence legal cases can range from procedural errors causing minor suffering to very severe (sadly, even fatal) outcomes. It’s the reason why all health staff are required to be proficiently trained to prevent mistakes from occurring.

And you wouldn’t think that a comparatively straight forward dental procedure could lead to a £2.5m law suit …
Read More

Understanding brain injury compensation claims

Unfortunately brain injuries can occur in a number of different ways and quite often can arise from a blow to the head. This may be caused by a road traffic accident, a bad fall and even sports injuries; this is demonstrated more so in the cases of rugby players and boxers.

Head injury accidents are the most common admittance in to A&E departments every year.
Read More

Dental negligence claims checklist

Dentists like all other health care professionals have a duty of care to their patients. If they are found to be in breach of that duty then a claim for negligence may be brought against them.

It is believed by many that pursuing a dental negligence claim can often be easier than other medical negligence claims. The reason this is believed is because most dental procedures are tried and tested over many years and therefore it leaves very little room for manoeuvre for negligence within the actual procedure itself.

Therefore, pointing the finger of blame when a personal injury is sustained to the dentist or health care professional performing the treatment.
Read More

Seat Belts, whiplash and brain injury claims

With UK roads overflowing with congestion, people racing to be some place 5 minutes ago and the unexpected waiting around every bend even a short car journey to the shops can be a hazardous one to take sometimes. In the event of a road accident happening what are the likely outcomes?
Read More