Personal injury advice from
Thompsons Solicitors
Medical Negligence Compensation Claim
13th February 2006
Clinical Negligence
The Legal Line’s specialist personal injury lawyers, Thompsons Solicitors have helped a mother of two from Hull to recover £200,000 in compensation after a mistake was made at the Princess Royal Hospital in Hull.
The medical error was made in 2001 when Adrienne Adamson was diagnosed with ovarian cysts and admitted to the Princess Royal Hospital for surgery to have them removed. Adrienne, who is 45 years old and employed as a nurse at the Hull Royal Infirmary had the surgery carried out and was discharged; however, became very ill a few days afterwards.
After being referred to the Hull Royal Infirmary, it was found that during the operation to remove the ovarian cysts, her bowel had been damaged and she required emergency, life-saving colostomy surgery.
Medical Complications
Usually, a colostomy is reversed after three to six months; however, in Adrienne’s case the wound became infected and the surgery had to be repeated. Unfortunately, the wound was still infected seven months after the second surgery and by this time, Mrs Adamson had developed symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis; which meant that she was no longer able to have surgery to reverse the colostomy.
Mrs Adamson said “I should have been out of hospital within days but instead I was there for two months. I was also off work for a year, a job I loved and now I cannot return to work which I’m very upset about. I am slowly coming to terms with the onset of rheumatoid arthritis and looking after my colostomy whilst disabled with this condition. The compensation will certainly help.”
Compensation Awarded
Princess Royal Hospital, Hull admitted liability for not recognising that Mrs Adamson was showing symptoms of bowel damage in the days following her original operation or referring her to the Hull Royal Infirmary earlier. They initially offered £5,000 to settle the claim and the final settlement of £200,000 was only reached a year later after the case had been listed for trial.
Sarah Goodman, a member of the specialist clinical negligence team at the Birmingham office of Thompsons Solicitors said “We are pleased with the outcome of the case, although no amount of money can compensate for the fact that Mrs Adamson will now have to suffer unnecessarily, for the rest of her life. It is sad that she had to resort to legal proceedings before receiving any admission or offer of compensation. She made a complaint in 2001 which the Trust answered with expressions of sympathy only and instructed solicitors in 2004, when she realised she would have to give up work. The admission came in February 2005. This delay is hard to understand when the hospital had investigated the matter back in 2001, especially when the victim was a well-regarded employee as well as a patient.”
If you have been injured as the result of clinical negligence or medical negligence contact The Legal Line now for free advice. You can reach us on 0800 032 8511 or by completing one of our online compensation claim forms.
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