Case studies

• Fatal effect of failing to recognise acute myocardial infarction
  In this case, we successfully pursued a claim for the widower of a lady whose GP failed to recognise the signs and symptoms that should have led him to diagnose unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction (MI).
• Claim settled for missed myocardial infarction
  We have settled a claim on behalf of the estate and dependants of an elderly gentleman who attended St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey with a myocardial infarction, but was sent home following a failure to check his troponin levels.
• Brain damage following delay in diagnosing signs of heart attack
  Our client had a family history and a number of risk factors for heart attack, including his own weight and cholesterol level. He attended his GP complaining of chest pains, which the GP treated as reflux oesophagitis, but very shortly after leaving the surgery, our client collapsed in the street suffering a heart attack.
• Settlement achieved for client who suffered cardiac arrest after reporting chest pain to her GP
  Our clinical negligence team has recently settled a claim for a woman who suffered a cardiac arrest after reporting severe chest pain to her GP.
• Successful claim against hospital for death of mother following angiogram procedure
  Our clinical negligence team has recently settled a claim for the husband and children of a 59-year-old woman, who sadly passed away due to an internal haemorrhage in 2015. Her death resulted from failings in her medical treatment while at Ealing Hospital, under the care of the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust.
• Damages secured for failure to treat a life-threatening cardiac condition following heart surgery
  Our clinical negligence team has reached a six-figure settlement for the family of a man in his 70s, who died following heart surgery after doctors failed to treat a life-threatening condition which caused a build-up of fluid in the tissue surrounding his heart.
• Failure to identify bleeding following heart surgery
  Our client underwent heart surgery after which he was found to be suffering inadequate blood circulation. The hospital failed initially to consider that this might be caused by internal bleeding and it was several hours before this was identified.
• Failure to diagnose sub-acute bacterial endocarditis
  Not all claims relating to infections concern diseases contracted in hospital. In this case, we acted for a client with a known hole in his heart that did not need treatment, but for which he attended regular check-ups because of his increased susceptibility to cardiac infections.
• Settlement achieved for damage to phrenic nerve during aortic valve replacement surgery
  We have recently settled a claim against Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust for alleged damage caused to our 82 year old client’s left phrenic nerve during the course of aortic valve replacement surgery.
• Case settled following fatal missed diagnosis of acute aortic dissection
  We have settled a tragic case involving the sudden and unexpected death of our client’s husband from undiagnosed acute aortic dissection (AAD) whilst in hospital.

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