Case studies

We acted for a client who suffered unilateral deterioration of her vision in the early 1990s. She reported this to her optometrist, whom she attended regularly between 1997 and 2004 while her vision continued to deteriorate.

Our client's father and grandfather had both suffered prostate cancer. As he was concerned at his own risk of the disease, he asked his GP to arrange tests.

Our client was under the care of his local hospital for an unrelated condition when he noticed a lesion developing in his ear. He complained to his treating doctors who agreed that he needed referral to the dermatology department.

We have acted in a number of cases where administrative errors and oversights have resulted in delays in diagnosing and treating patients, some with tragic consequences. In one case, a client attended his GP with a suspected malignant melanoma. His test results were subsequently misfiled.

We secured a settlement of £215,000 for a client who is now terminally ill following the incorrect diagnosis of her recurring cancer.

Our client had been admitted to Guy’s Hospital with complications following treatment for throat cancer. During his stay in hospital, he contracted Legionnaire’s Disease due to contamination on one of the wash basins.

We settled a claim against a former GP for a delayed diagnosis of kidney cancer which led to our client’s death.

We recently represented a client in a claim against Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust following a delay in diagnosing her breast cancer.

We have settled a claim against James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for a missed diagnosis of skin cancer which led to a client’s premature death.

We settled a claim against a dermatologist for delayed diagnosis of the genetic condition Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS) which subsequently led to delayed diagnosis of bowel cancer.

We investigated a case relating to an elderly woman’s delayed diagnosis of lung cancer, from which sadly she died, on behalf of her husband. She attended Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital with a severe and persistent cough and was given a chest X-ray which was reported as normal. Subsequent consideration of the X-ray demonstrated that it in fact showed an area of abnormality and extra density behind the heart and therefore warranted further investigation. Those treating her thought that our client’s wife had an ENT related problem and referred her to an ENT physician, who was unable to find anything of concern and discharged her from his clinic. Her health continued to decline and she underwent a second chest X-ray two months later. Following this X-ray, lung cancer was diagnosed but it was too late to offer anything other than palliative care.

We settled a claim against Princess Royal University Hospital in Kent for a radiologist’s failure to investigate a lesion identified on our client’s chest X-ray, which resulted in him losing the likely prospect of curative surgery. He was faced with a terminal illness by the time of his actual diagnosis.