Mark Bowman was instructed by the
parents of Christopher, an eight month old infant, after a
hospital had failed to recognise and treat symptoms of
meningitis.
The family were Christmas shopping in Oxford Street
when Christopher developed an acute illness. They
immediately took him to the A&E Department at the University
College London Hospital (UCL).
Christopher was not seen by a nurse for over an hour. The
nurse 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 and
discharged from hospital without further treatment.
Christopher's condition continued to deteriorate and on
admission to the A&E department were the symptoms of meningitis
recognised and treatment begun.
Time of arrival at Royal Free Hospital 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, but it was
too late by this point and Christopher died at 23:00.
UCL's own investigations accepted mistakes in the way in
which Christopher had been treated and the GMC (General
Medical Council) was called to investigate the junior
doctor who discharged him.
Initially the hospital denied responsibility for the
death and argued even with proper treatment
that Christopher would still have died.
We obtained an opinion from a consultant paediatrician and
subsequently liability was admitted. Obviously the baby'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, the 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
always there for me"
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For further information or if you have an accident and emergency claim please call
Mark
Bowman on
020 7861 4043 or email mark.bowman@ffw.com.
You can discuss your accident and
emergency claim with any member of our medical negligence team on freephone
0800 358 3848, email personalinjury@ffw.com or
complete our short enquiry form.