Case studies

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.

We settled a claim against Surrey and Sussex NHS Foundation Trust for a 53 year old woman who suffered a significant fall when she was a patient at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Our client consulted a private dermatologist at Amersham Clinic for advice regarding pigmentation she had developed on her forehead and cheeks. She was told that she had melasma and treatment with the Ruby laser was recommended.

Our client was born with a unilateral cleft of the lip and palate and had undergone surgery on a number of occasions. In 2011 she was advised that she needed just two more surgical procedures before things were finally corrected.

We have dealt with a case where abdominal surgery led to complications that ultimately cost our client her eyesight. The surgery regrettably resulted in perforation of her jejunum and she spent a month in an intensive care unit.

We dealt with a claim arising from our client’s participation in a clinical trial of Endologix’s Fenestrated Ventana Stent Graft System at St George’s Hospital. In May 2011 our client underwent an endovascular repair by way of an insertion of an Endologix fenestrated stent graft. A subsequent CT scan in December 2011 showed occlusion of the left renal stent graft and problems with blood pressure were noted. On 6 March 2012, our client became significantly unwell and was diagnosed as being in renal failure secondary to bilateral renal artery thrombosis. The cause of the obstructed right renal artery was thought to be migration of the graft.

We are advising on a case relating to the standard of ophthalmic treatment our client received during an iridotomy, performed to correct ‘narrow angles’, which left her vulnerable to developing glaucoma and possible eyesight loss.