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medical negligence

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davet
davet Community member Posts: 77 Courageous
I am hoping to get advice re the following, in august 2012 I was in a meeting at work when I passed out, I was taken by ambulance to the local A&E where after a while I was diagnosed as having a chest infection, given a fistful of antibiotics and sent away I felt very ill for the following week and did not return to work until a week after, after approx an hour I realised that I was having difficulty making my lefyt arm and hand work I went straight to my GP who suggested that I may have suffered a stroke, he called an ambulance and on my arrival at the same A&E they confirmed his diagnosis and I was admitted, the following day I underwent numerous tests and my then wife who at the time was a blood science pathologist at a different hospital, came to the hospital to see me, as she was a medical professional I left her to discuss my case with the stroke doctor and it transpired that my CT scan discovered  not only a scar on my brain relevant to the stroke I suffered the day before but it showed an older scar which the stroke doctor felt was about a week old, suggesting that my chest infection the earlier week was in fact a stroke, my wife then made inquiries with specialist doctors at her own hospital and found that, if my 'chest infection' had been correctly diagnosed as a stroke, I would have been given a clot busting medication which would have prevented my second stroke(which left me badly disabled), she also found that one of the antibiotics I was given for a chest infection had a side effect of causing a stroke, I obviously complained to the hospital who immediately denied all responsibility, some time afterwards I consulted a solicitor who advised me that there was a 3 year limit on bringing a case such as this, and I was unable to sue, being unaware of this 3 year rule I had left it too long to to do anything through the courts, I obviously lost my job, my home, my savings,my dignity and eventually my marriage and I find it hard to believe there is nothing I can do about it, I have written to everyone I can think of, my MP the prime minister, the ministry of justice and the law society, but it seems there is nothing I can do about it even though the proof of this negligence is evident on my hospital records for all to see and I was hoping someone could point me in a new direction

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  • Richard_Scope
    Richard_Scope Posts: 3,648 Scope online community team
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    Hi @davet
    It seems that you have had to endure such a lot. We have some advice on Compensation for medical negligence
    I hope that the information is helpful.
    Scope
    Specialist Information Officer and Cerebral Palsy Programme Lead

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  • Chloe_Scope
    Chloe_Scope Posts: 10,586 Disability Gamechanger
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    Hi @davet, thank you for taking the time to share this with us all. I am so sorry you have had to go through this! I really hope the community is able to aid you in getting the correct compensation that you deserve.
    Scope

  • davet
    davet Community member Posts: 77 Courageous
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    Hi Richard, thanks for that, the problem that I have isan unjust time limit of 3 years, it appears that the states that I have only 3 years from realising that medical negligence took place to bring a case to the courts, this is something I was not aware of until consulting a solicitor and something the hospital conveniently forgot to mention when I suggested that I would consult a solicitor, this law appears to provide a limit for holding someone accountable for their negligence, but no limit to someones suffering
  • Richard_Scope
    Richard_Scope Posts: 3,648 Scope online community team
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    I have some experience of that too. Short of a change to the statute of limitations we are hamstrung.
    Scope
    Specialist Information Officer and Cerebral Palsy Programme Lead

    'Concerned about another member's safety or wellbeing? Flag your concerns with us.

    Want to tell us about your experience in the community? Talk to our chatbot and let us know. 

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