During a hearing before Mr Justice MacKay in the High Court a
surgeon apologised for the death of Catherine Ferguson as a result
of a clinical negligence claim made by her son.
Catherine had consulted Mr Jurkovic the gynaecologist to
investigate abdominal pain.
In 2001 Mr Jurkovic admitted Catherine as a private patient to
Kings College Hospital for a routine laparoscopy in an attempt to
discover the cause of the pain. The operation was carried out on a
Saturday as Catherine was expecting to be discharged from hospital
that day and to return to work the following Monday.
At the very beginning of the surgery, the operation went
terribly wrong. During the insertion of an instrument into the
abdomen, the surgeon ruptured Catherine’s aorta and notwithstanding
the emergency attendance of a number of other doctors to theatre,
Catherine bled to death. She left an 8 year old son.
Paul McNeil,
clinical negligence lawyer of Field Fisher
Waterhouse LLP was instructed to represent the family at the
Inquest and to pursue a clinical negligence case against the
surgeon.
Both at the Inquest and during the course of the clinical
negligence proceedings the surgeon denied that he was legally
responsible for Catherine’s death. He maintained with the support
of experts, that he followed standard text book procedures and that
the rupture of the aorta was an event which could occur even in the
best surgeons hands.
The case was hard fought and was due to be heard in the High
Court on 4 July 2006 to consider whether the surgeon was guilty of
clinical negligence and if so the amount of compensation due to her
son.
Negotiations which took place between the parties on 1 July (the
last working day before the trial) bore fruit and Mr Jurkovic
agreed to pay very substantive damages and to apologise to
Catherine’s son.
In court Mr Justice MacKay approved the settlement on behalf of
Catherine’s son.
The surgeon through his Counsel said:
“Whether this court would ultimately have held Mr Jurkovic
legally liable in respect of this tragedy is a matter for
conjecture; what is not in doubt is that, legally liable or not, Mr
Jurkovic is – and keenly feels – responsible for what happened, and
the fact that his patient died during a minor operative procedure
is something for which he offers a heart-felt and sincere
apology”.
For more details or comment please contact:
Paul McNeil, Clinical Negligence Practice
Tel: (020 7861 4019) Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP.
The case was covered in
The Daily Mail.