Baby Liam was born in November 2004, healthy and in good
condition. Two weeks later he became unwell and vomited what
appeared to be blood on his clothes.
Liam’s parents took him (and the soiled
clothing) to an out of hours GP just before 8pm. They told the GP
that Liam was refusing his food, was pale, his temperature was low
and that he vomited what appeared to be blood.
The GP tried to reassure Liam’s parents and
sent them home. He recorded in the notes (in contradiction to the
parent’s history) that Liam had taken a feed and was alert with
good colour and tone.
At about 10pm Liam’s lips turned blue. His
parents rushed him to the hospital. On the way Liam stopped
breathing. Neither his parents nor doctors at the hospital were
able to resuscitate him. A post-mortem revealed that Liam’s death
was caused by volvulus, a twisting of the bowel, which can be
common in young babies.
Samantha Critchley
arranged representation for the family at the Inquest in November
2005. The Coroner recorded a verdict of natural causes but ruled
that the better course of action would have been for the GP to
refer Liam to hospital and that this may have allowed time for Liam
to undergo life-saving treatment
After the Inquest Samantha was instructed by Liam’s parents to
take a claim against the GP for negligence.
Our expert evidence stated that if Liam been referred to the
paediatric unit in the hospital, he would have been admitted and
given IV fluids and antibiotics.
A diagnosis of small bowel obstruction would have been made and
surgery would have been performed to resolve it. Our case was that
with proper care Liam would have survived.
We put forward a claim for Liam’s pain and suffering and for his
parents’ bereavement, psychological injuries and loss. The claim
was settled for £92,500 in October 2009. The case was funded on a
“no win no fee” basis.
Liam’s parent’s said:
“At every stage during the long process we
felt confident that Samantha was giving us the correct advice and
selecting the best experts to assist her with our case.
"Without Samantha’s help we know that our
son’s voice would not of been heard as well. she treated us with
the perfect mix of compassion and professionalism.
"Sam made what was obviously a very difficult
process for us as easy as it could be”
For further information or if you have
a GP negligence claim please
call Samantha Critchley on
020 7861 4263 or email samantha.critchley@ffw.com
You can discuss your GP negligence
claim with any member of our medical
negligence team on
freephone 0800 358 3848, email personalinjury@ffw.com or
complete our short enquiry form.