Claim settled against Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust for delay in diagnosis of bowel obstruction

Our specialist medical negligence team has obtained an apology, and settled a claim for a young woman who suffered a delay in diagnosis of her bowel obstruction whilst pregnant.

In January 2023, our client was admitted to the defendant’s hospital with nausea, vomiting, continuous upper abdominal pain, lack of bowel movements, and feeling generally unwell. She was approximately 36 weeks pregnant at the time.

Our client was in hospital for five days before a bowel obstruction was diagnosed and she then underwent emergency surgery to resect her bowel and deliver her baby. During this period, she continued to be extremely unwell with abdominal pain, vomiting and bowel symptoms. She also unfortunately experienced a very distressing episode of faecal vomiting.

During the claimant’s admission, there were failures to fully consider, and make a plan to identify, the underlying cause of her symptoms. Our client was pregnant, and therefore under the care of obstetricians. Given the persistence of her unexplained condition, general surgeons should have also been involved in her care at an earlier stage so as to consider whether she had a bowel obstruction.

The delay in receiving treatment unfortunately resulted in our client experiencing an extended period of pre-operative symptoms. In particular, with earlier diagnosis and surgery, she would have avoided the traumatic episode of faecal vomiting. In addition, as a result of the delay in diagnosis, she experienced a prolonged post-operative recovery.

Our client approached our medical negligence team with her concerns about her care. Having reviewed her medical records, and obtained an independent medical expert opinion from a general surgeon, Penningtons Manches Cooper presented a claim to the NHS trust.

Both an early admission of liability, and an apology were obtained from the trust. The claim was then settled without the need to issue court proceedings.

Bethan Horsfield-Marrs, associate in the medical negligence team at Penningtons Manches Cooper, comments: “We have dealt with a number of claims relating to delays in diagnosis and treatment of bowel obstruction, and unfortunately such delays can have significant consequences. In this case, despite the distressing impact of these failings, our client has fortunately made a full recovery and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust was very cooperative in trying to compensate our client and reach a settlement. Our client was particularly grateful that an apology was obtained.”