Case studies

We settled a claim for damages against Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust after our client suffered prolonged pain as a result of the midwifery staff ignoring her continued hyperstimulation. Uterine hyperstimulation is a potential complication of the induction of labour defined as either a series of single contractions lasting two minutes or more, or a contraction frequency of five or more in 10 minutes.

In this medically complex case, our client was transferred to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington to remove a catheter which had become knotted and stuck in his left iliac vein during an ablation under general anaesthetic.

Our client was admitted to BMI Healthcare’s Hampshire Clinic for the removal of a lesion in the salivary gland. During the operation, a Redivac drain was inserted into his neck.

We are reviewing the case of a lady who has had disappointing results from a face and neck lift (rhytidectomy and platysmaplasty).

We settled a claim against Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust following a breakdown in communication leading to the failure to treat our client’s ankle injury.

The standard of care our client received during her last trimester made her pregnancy and labour extremely stressful. During her pregnancy, our client was concerned that she felt so ill with breathlessness, fatigue, swollen feet and ankles that she feared for her own health and that of her unborn baby. She consequently suffered psychological stress and anxiety, compounded by the erroneous belief that her symptoms were purely the result of panic attacks and her psychological state.

We are investigating a claim for a lady who presented at A&E 16 weeks pregnant, having experienced bleeding throughout her pregnancy. A scan the previous week had revealed a large placenta. After waiting some time, our client was reviewed by a junior gynaecologist, who proceeded to perform a physical examination using forceps. We believe that in doing so, the junior doctor may have caused our client’s membranes to rupture.

We settled a claim against a GP in Surrey for the failure to appropriately diagnose an Achilles tendon rupture, and for the failure to refer the claimant for urgent treatment.

We settled a claim against King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for a client whose wife died following a fall in hospital.

We settled a claim against Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust for a client whose elderly husband fractured his humerus following a fall from a hospital bed at East Surrey Hospital. Her husband later died, although his death was caused by his underlying medical condition rather than the fall itself.

Our clinical negligence team settled a claim against The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust for a young woman who fell while she was an in-patient following the birth of her daughter. The incident occurred when she was visiting the lavatory unassisted several hours after giving birth. She had suffered serious post-partem bleeding and had complained to nursing staff of feeling lightheaded.

We were instructed to investigate an upsetting case involving an elderly and vulnerable patient. The lady concerned, who suffered from dementia, was admitted to hospital with severe dehydration.