Failure To Remove Stent Results In Successful Medical Negligence Claim

The Nelsons Clinical Negligence team recently represented a client in a claim against University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust regarding the failure to remove a biliary stent.

Negligent failure to remove biliary stent

In 2021, our client suffered significant abdominal pain resulting in admission to the Leicester Royal Infirmary. Investigations confirmed gallstones in the gallbladder and bile duct.

A plan was made for ERCP and stone extraction.

ERCP is short for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. It is a procedure that looks at the bile and pancreatic ducts using an endoscope. Bile ducts are the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and small intestine.

During our client’s ERCP procedure in June 2021, a pigtail stent was placed into the common bile duct. Putting a stent into the bile duct means that bile can flow into the small bowel again.

The plan was for cholecystectomy (surgery to remove the gallbladder) following which the stent which had been placed during the ERCP was to be removed.

However, the stent was not removed as planned and instead remained in situ.

Our client began to suffer from symptoms such as swelling in her stomach, headaches, and nausea. She contacted her GP who advised her to try regular paracetamol and to return for further review if her symptoms were no better. Our client continued to experience symptoms and regularly attended her GP and the hospital for medical assistance.

She underwent a cholecystectomy in January 2022. However, the biliary stent was still not removed.

In July 2022, she became very unwell and attended hospital again. At that time, investigations confirmed a hepatic abscess which required drainage.

It was at this time that the medical team realised that the biliary stent had not been removed as it ought to have been following the ERCP procedure a year earlier.

Our client required a further ERCP procedure to remove the biliary stent in September 2022. During this procedure, multiple stones, fragments, and sludge were cleared from the common bile duct.

Allegations of negligence

Nelsons specialist Clinical Negligence team was instructed to pursue a claim against University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust on behalf of our client.

The first step in any claim of medical negligence is to instruct independent medical experts to consider whether and how the treatment was negligent, and what injury this caused to our client.

Following input from an independent surgical medical expert, it was confirmed that a pigtail stent should not be left in situ for more than 6 months.

This is because, over time, stents become covered with debris and will ultimately block, which can become a focal point for infection, and could lead to systemic sepsis and/or liver abscesses, as happened in our client’s case.

For our client, it was her case stent ought to have been removed no later than 6 months after it had been placed and that the failure to do so represented a breach of duty of care.

In addition to proving negligence, to succeed with a claim in medical negligence, we must also prove that the negligent care resulted in an avoidable injury.

In this case, the independent medical experts advised that, but for negligence, the stent would have been removed within 6 months of its placement in June 2021.

As a result of the stent remaining in situ for 13 months, it became covered in debris and blocked, resulting in infection, symptoms of pain and suffering, and our client’s hospitalisation, further procedures, and prolonged recovery.

Our experts confirmed that it was more likely than not that the cause of the liver abscess in our client’s case was the infected stent. This would therefore have been entirely avoided had the negligence not occurred.

Successful claim

Allegations were put to the Defendant hospital Trust in a full Letter of Claim.

In response, the Trust admitted liability, and negotiations to settle the claim commenced.

The settlement was reached between the parties swiftly.

Our client received compensation for the negligent treatment she received and the avoidable injury this caused her.

At the conclusion of her case, our client was thrilled with the outcome and commented that she “Would highly recommended Nelsons Solicitors.”