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Associate Thomas Kamlow successfully settled a case on behalf of his client Mr P following a delay in identifying the early warning signs of a heart attack.
Mr P attended his local A&E department suffering from severe pain in his shoulder, neck and upper back after a long haul flight. The pain appeared in episodes lasting up to 20 minutes at a time. His blood pressure was also raised. As Mr P had recently undertaken a long-haul flight he was checked for signs of Venous Thromboembolism but this was ruled out. Mr P was given pain relief and given some physiotherapy exercises to complete. An initial diagnosis of musculoskeletal pain was recorded by the hospital.
Mr P reattended A&E five days later as he was still in significant pain. His blood pressure was still high. An ECG was completed and revealed a ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and the STEMI pathway was activated. Mr P was then transferred to a specialist hospital where a troponin blood test revealed heart damage had occurred. A stent was inserted into an occluded distal circumflex artery.
Upon instruction, Thomas Kamlow investigated the treatment that Mr P had received at his first hospital visit. Expert evidence was obtained experts in emergency medicine, General Practice relating to the failures to explore a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome, and Cardiology to comment on the causal link between these breaches of duty and the injuries that Mr P sustained. A Letter of Claim was sent out to the defendant Trust, setting out the allegations of negligence and injuries sustained as a result of these. The initial diagnosis of musculoskeletal pain was questioned as well as a failure by the Trust to diagnose and act upon the ECG that Mr P had undertaken on his first visit where an abnormal result had been recorded.
Had Mr P had received a stent upon his earlier visit to the hospital, he would only have sustained an NSTEMI (non ST elevation myocardial infarction), he would have recovered and returned to work after one week, instead of four months of recovery which he required. Mr P also required extensive care from his wife and daughter in his period of recovery, which was factored into the claim.
The claim successfully settled for £10,000.
