Medical negligence payouts in bad health
It has been revealed that a health board has paid out more than £6million in medical negligence compensation for clinical mistakes in just two years.
Bosses at NHS Grampian were forced to hand over huge settlements to 27 patients and at least 20 staff.
The awards covered a variety of blunders, including incorrect treatment, a swab being left inside one patient, and exposure to potentially deadly asbestos.
The payout is also thought to include £21,500 handed to a grieving mother, 28, last January, when she won compensation after her baby was stillborn in 2003.
However last night the mum of Fettercairn, Aberdeenshire, said: “It's just guilt money. An apology would have meant more.”
An NHS Grampian spokesman said: “Compensation payments are made by the NHS via The Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Scheme.”
In 2008/9, Scottish health boards settled 171 cases, costing the NHS £26million. The board refused to discuss individual cases over patient confidentiality.
Chillblains turn to amputation
In similar news it has been exposed that a Birmingham mother-of-three has died after having both legs amputated.
It has been alleged that she was misdiagnosed with chillblains but actually had massive blood clots. As a result, her angry family claim that the terrible mistake has cost the grandmother her life. They are now pursuing legal action.
The 51-year-old, of Foxstone Croft, Bromford, repeatedly complained of agonising pains in her legs to her GP, who works at Church Lane and Bromford Medical Practices, in Stechford. But the doctor diagnosed chillblains, which is a swelling, often of toes, as a reaction to the cold.
When the pain eventually got too much, the victim’s partner took her to Heartlands Hospital where surgeons said the patient had massive blood clots in her left leg. They were so severe medics had no choice but to amputate the leg. Further complications led to the patient losing her other leg last week and she died on December 6 at the Bordesley Green Hospital.
“I believe that errors in diagnosing [her] properly in the first place have caused her death,” said her partner, aged 54.
“[The doctor] came to do a home visit in October and was laughing when she told [her], ‘You won’t die from it, it’s only chilblains, just keep your feet up and take paracetamol’. I’ll never forget it.
“For the next four months the pain got worse and I kept going to the surgery asking for a visit but they said the doctor wouldn’t do a home visit and gave me more prescriptions for paracetamol.
“When [she] got to Heartlands, the doctors told us the GP should have known it wasn’t chilblains and she had been misdiagnosed.
“Picking up the blood clots so late meant the leg was almost dead and has led to more complications and ultimately [her] death.
“I want justice for [her] because I believe someone is to blame for this terrible unnecessary death. [She] shouldn’t have died,” he said.
The doctor and her employer, NHS Birmingham East and North, have refused to discuss the allegations but extended their condolences for the family: “On behalf of the trust, I would like offer my sympathies to the family and friends.”
Updated on 08/01/2010