Mrs X attended a private hospital in the North of England for a minor operation under an NHS contract. Whilst there she suffered an injury when the surgeon accidently cut her bladder. This can be a recognised problem with a number of procedures and it does not in itself mean that the surgeon has been negligent. However, in this case the issues surrounding the aftercare were the real problem.
The first mistake was that the gynaecologist failed to call a urologist to undertake the bladder repair and attempted the repair himself. This repair failed and resulted in a bladder leak that wasn’t treated appropriately and caused subsequent complications. There was a failure to recognise that a leak had occurred and in addition some actions taken by staff compounded the complications when they used a catheter that was too small, prescribed the wrong type of medication and used the wrong type of scan.
The defendants in this claim denied liability throughout meaning that Mrs X and her legal team had to remain single minded in their efforts to get a just conclusion. The issues presented in both proving negligence and the injuries suffered by our client were extremely complex and involved input from a multi-disciplinary team. The hospital has never admitted liability but have now settled for £35,000 plus costs.
Applebys specialist medical negligence solicitor, Emma Semwayo, commented “Failings by clinicians to diagnose the unsuccessful bladder repair caused Mrs X unnecessary pain and suffering. If the defendants had recognised and rectified their own errors at the time then potentially Mrs X would have had a much speedier recovery. An early recognition of liability by the defendants would have saved her the distress of having to prove her claim over a lengthy period of time.”
Emma continued “Mrs Xs determination coupled with the expertise of Applebys Clinical Negligence Team has meant that despite all this we have brought this claim to a successful conclusion resulting in compensation of tens of thousands of pounds.”