£10,000 awarded after delayed treatment contributed to patients death

Medical negligence claim

The client’s father, Mr Y, was admitted to hospital in September 2018 with low blood pressure and suspected urosepsis. A CT scan identified prostatitis with an abscess and perianal abscess and was commenced on IV antibiotics for his sepsis. Further review of the scan revealed this was a para-rectal abscess, therefore requiring General Surgical input also. Mr Y’s care was discussed with a Urology Consultant at another hospital under the same Trust and he was to be transferred to this hospital for drainage of the abscess. However, poor communication between the hospital sites, inappropriate transfer between the hospital sites and failing to identify and escalate the deteriorating patient, Mr Y’s condition further deteriorated.

Devastatingly, he went into cardiac arrest leading to a hypoxic brain injury and he died 10 days later.

Sepsis negligence claim

Mrs X approached Blackwater Law to discuss a potential claim for medical negligence and was represented by Rebecca Kooyman, with the supervision of Zoe Diss, on a No Win, No Fee basis.

Given that there were multiple specialities responsible for the patients care, establishing the potential breach of duty was not straight forward. However, utilising the network of medical experts that Blackwater Law has access to, it was possible to ascertain strong supportive breach of duty and causation evidence from a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care.

Rebecca was able to use this evidence to put forward a detailed Letter of Claim to the Defendant NHS Hospital Trust.

A Letter of Response was received from the Defendant Trust approximately seven months later. They admitted that their care fell below an acceptable standard and that there were a number of failings including not monitoring the patient more closely, a lack of communication and a failure to understand the severity of the patient’s sepsis. Notably, the Trust admitted that on the balance of probabilities the admitted breaches of duty materially contributed to the death of the patient.

Rebecca and Zoe were then in a position to quantify the claim and entered into negotiations to settle by way of Part 36 offers, settling for £10,000 in March 2022. The claim has enabled Mrs X to gain a sense of closure over the tragic events that led to her father’s death.