Nelsons represented Mr H and his brothers in a claim for the inadequate care that their mother, Mrs H, received during her treatment at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in January and February 2008.
After her admission to the Hospital, a series of deficiencies in the care of Mrs H followed:
• Mrs H had been taking Prednisolone for many years and any withdrawal from this drug must be done gradually, otherwise the consequences and side effects can be severe. The Trust failed to prescribe Prednisolone to Mrs H following her admission for 24 days. The Coroner in a letter to the family noted this to be of the greatest concern.
• A few days after admission, Mrs H complained of severe back pain which was eventually diagnosed as a fracture but there was a delay in both identifying the cause of the pain and then a failure to adequately treat it.
• There was mismanagement by the Trust of the End of Life Pathway following prolonged uncertainty over whether or not Mrs H should be transferred to the High Dependency Unit. She was ultimately moved to a side room where she sadly died on 24 February 2008.
Admittance of Sub-Standard Medical Care Levels Led to a Compensation Settlement
The Trust admitted to the deficiencies, particularly in nursing care which were sufficiently serious that they led to a Sister being removed from the ward and subjected to intensive re-education and retraining. The Trust also acknowledged that the standard of care given to Mrs H fell below an acceptable level, for which they apologised.
Claire Liptrot and Baishali Majumdar were able to recover £5,000 in compensation for Mr H and his family for the pain and suffering Mrs H endured at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. The case took only 6 months to complete and we were particularly pleased to be able to help this family as they had been turned down by two other firms prior to instructing Nelsons.
Read more about the clinical negligence cases that Nelsons handled by visiting our Personal Injury case studies page.
For advice on pursuing a claim for compensation please contact a member of our Clinical Negligence team.
