We have successfully concluded a medical negligence claim for one of our clients following a hysterectomy.  This client has agreed that we can use her file as a case study for marketing purposes.

The facts were as follows:-

The Claimant had a planned hysterectomy and following this became immediately incontinent. She complained to her treating surgeon on two separate occasions but was not examined. This was particularly distressing as she had no control over the incontinence, and as a consequence had to regularly clean her soft furnishings and bedding. The incontinence became so bad that she decided to seek a second opinion. She was examined and diagnosed with a fistula which could be repaired with surgery. Unfortunately, the Claimant had to undergo several repair surgeries as the initial repair failed. It took four surgeries in total before the repair was complete.

The Claimant raised an interesting legal argument in that she claimed that had the repair surgery been carried out when it should have been, i.e. five months earlier, then the repair surgery would likely have been successful on the first occasion. This legal argument has been used in a different context in earlier cases however not in this context.

The Defendant admitted that the fistula should have been diagnosed however, maintains that the loss was only a five month delay rather than the two and a half years it took before the repair was complete. This therefore meant that there was a large range of damages that the claim could be worth, depending on the decision made by the court.

Court proceedings were issued however the parties entered into settlement discussions and fortunately the claim was settled prior to the first court hearing. As well as compensation for pain and suffering the Claimant was also able to put forward a claim for loss of earnings, care and assistance, incontinence products and replacement bedding.