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Paul McNeil,
head of our medical
negligence department, pursued a claim
for a 49 year old solicitor whose GP failed to diagnose a serious
infection which went on to cause septicaemia, toxic shock syndrome
and required admission to the Intensive Care Unit.
The claim was settled against the GP for £1.2
million.
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In May 2006 our client's then partner contacted his
GP’s receptionist and explained that her partner was very
unwell with chest pain, severe vomiting and breathlessness.
Shortly afterwards the GP attended and diagnosed acute gastritis
and also indicated that the patient may have peptic ulcer
disease. He prescribed painkillers, antacids and indicated
that the patient should call the NHS out of hours service if his
condition worsened (this was disputed).
The GP telephoned our client's then partner at 6pm
that evening. He prescribed an anti-sickness drug and
said that he would see the patient the next day.
The patient remained at home on his own
overnight and deteriorated significantly. His then
partner telephoned the surgery at 8.15am and the GP
immediately arranged admission to the Southampton General Hospital
surgical ward.
We argued on his behalf that he should have
been referred to hospital the day before and should have received a
broad spectrum antibiotic which would have resulted in control of
the septicaemia which had caused the toxic shock syndrome and the
severe illness.
By the time he reached hospital our
client was in a parlous state and he required admission to the
Intensive Care Unit. He suffered multi organ failure and
remained in intensive care for nearly three weeks. He was
very ill and was unable to practice as a solicitor for more than
one year.
We were instructed to pursue a medical
negligence claim against the GP on the grounds that our client
should have been referred to hospital by the GP urgently with a
differential diagnosis of pneumonia or septicaemia. The
potential diagnosis of peptic ulcer disease was incompatible with
his symptoms and he should not have been sent to a surgical ward
the next day.
Although liability was never admitted the
GP’s advisers agreed to pay the sum of £1.2 million in
compensation, the bulk of which was for loss of
earnings. Our client was off work for one year and
was no longer able to continue to work at his previous
rate.
The case was pursued on a no win no fee basis.
For more information or if you believe that you may have a
GP negligence claim, please do not
hesitate to contact Paul McNeil on
020 7861 4019 or email paul.mcneil@ffw.com.
You can discuss your GP
negligence claim with any member of our medical negligence team on
freephone 0200 358 3848, email
personalinjury@ffw.com
or complete our short enquiry form.