£11,000 compensation for family in hospital negligence claim

Mrs Anderson was 88 years old when she was admitted to the hospital after having two falls at home.  An x-ray was carried out together with other investigations and they confirmed our client had not suffered any fractures. During her stay in hospital, our client was discovered lying on the floor of the hospital ward, in pain, after having suffered a fall. A further x-ray was carried out following Mrs Anderson’s fall whilst in hospital which confirmed she had suffered a fracture to the neck of her femur – a leg injury. A thorough investigation was carried out by the hospital and a ‘serious incident’ report followed, which was critical of Mrs Anderson’s care.

Mrs Anderson approached Blackwater Law medical negligence solicitors about making a hospital negligence claim. Mrs Anderson’s case was taken on by Blackwater Law on a no-win, no-fee basis, providing peace of mind to Mrs Anderson and her family that they faced no financial risk in bringing a claim for compensation.

Jason Brady was the medical negligence lawyer advising and representing Mrs Anderson’s family. In dealing with the case Jason first obtained medical evidence from an expert orthopaedic surgeon on Mrs Anderson’s condition and prognosis. This evidence would act to support the argument that hospital negligence had occurred and the hospital had provided a sub-standard level of care. The medical report determined that Mrs Anderson suffered a fracture to the neck of her femur and suffered a significant amount of pain and suffering and had restricted movement and mobility as a result of this. Unfortunately, Mrs Anderson passed away 6 months after the fall. The claim was then pursued by Mrs Anderson’s son who became Blackwater Law’s client. To enable this to happen, Blackwater Law obtained a grant of probate for Mrs Anderson‘s son, enabling him to continue to progress the hospital negligence claim.

A letter of claim was sent by Blackwater Law to the Defendant. Blackwater Law alleged that the standard of care provided to Mrs Anderson fell below an acceptable standard measured against a body of medical opinion. It was alleged that there was inadequate supervision of our client and requested all documentation from the defendant including documentation concerning falls prevention, supervision of patients (especially those at high risk of falls), training and risk assessments concerning falls (including those at high risk of falls), together with full information regarding fall incidents over the last 10 years and also including minutes of all meetings where falls and falls prevention, training and supervision on fall prevention have been considered and full documentation regarding falls policy including fall prevention, supervision and training of staff regarding falls prevention (including for patients at high risk of falls).

The Defendant admitted liability promptly after the letter of claim and made an early offer of settlement at £10,000. Jason Brady advised Mrs Anderson’s son to await the above-mentioned medical evidence and then, with this evidence, used it to negotiate settlement of the claim at £11,000.