Litigation and Coeliac Disease

boozercruiser

My Wife has recently been diagnosed at age 61 with Coeliac Disease which is a body intolerance to Gluten in certain foods (Bread, Cakes, Pastries, Pasta, Sauces Etc.) She has been complaining to various Doctors about Bowel and General Tummy problems, feeling unwell etc. for at least 35 years and feel that a Fully Qualified Doctor should have known that these are possible symptoms of Coeliac Disease.

None diagnosis of this condition has meant that my Wife is left with all sorts of health problems (And can cause Bowel Cancer Etc.) simply because she has not been getting proper nutrients from her food as she has been eating things she shouldn't have.

Following a recent fall at which my wife broke her wrist that particular Doctor decided to do a specific blood test which is the only way to find this condition.

(A general blood test which has happened a lot over the years will never find Coeliac Disease.)

Both my Wife and I are angry that this condition was never investigated properly years earlier and frankly are wanting to Litigate because of it.

Is there anyone out there who might know if this has been done before as I understand that around 1 in 20 of the population has this Disease but Doctors just do not do the correct investigation as per the Specific Blood Test to identify it.

Does anyone know a good Health Lawyer for instance?

Ta............................. Boozercruiser.

Supermom

I sympathise with how you must both be feeling I have been in a similar situation myself, thought sightly more serious (it involved having part of my bowel removed) until doctors finally discovered what was wrong. Yes I felt angry and frustrated, some of the treatment I received was under Bupa (paid for by myself) so there was also a financial aspect to my case. However I could never have gone ahead with litigation as I like many believe that doctors/consultants are 99.9% of the time hardworking people who in the end are also human and do make mistakes. Have you never made a mistake?

I have suffered but I have also come through the otherside, believe me getting angry or looking for revenge (be it on a financial basis) will not make things any better for you or your wife, in the end (please pardon the pun) no one has died (I nearly did) please try to put this behind you and move on.

And just a note on Coeliac Disease it has many of the same symptoms as at least 12 other bowel conditions so in all fairness is not the easiest disease to pinpoint.

Ted_Hutchinson

Testing for Non-Celiac and Gluten Intolerance this is a Power Point slide presentation that sets out very clearly the difficulties that may be presented to someone trying to come to a clear diagnosis.

The Gluten Files is another good source of information.

CAB adviceguide has some good information about making a formal complaint.

I also would like people to challenge the current level of complacency regarding questions such as Do Vitamin D Deficiency, Gut Bacteria, and Gluten Combine in Infancy to Cause Celiac Disease?
Loren Cordain explains how this may occur for MS it is possible the same mechanism also applies to other conditions.

However we have to recognise the current consensus of medical opinion is not anywhere near accepting that wheat, gluten or refined carbohydrates are potentially addicitive or potentially harmful. While NHS health advisers are telling everyone to ensure their plates should contain a 33% carbohydrate and bread/grains are good for you there is no way a claim against an individual doctor for not immediately suspecting that gluten sensitivity or celiac is the cause of many problems.
The slide show presention at the first link list 139 different conditions associated with gluten. I could add to that list.

The heartscanblog Wheat blogs presents some very readable information about the benefits of avoiding wheat. But however sensible that advice is we have to recognise it is not the mainstream medical consensus opinion and while it may seem obvious with hindsight that this is the root of the problem and it should have been discovered sooner the fact is that your experience is no different than most people with that condition.

Therefore although a formal complaint should be raised I think you would simply be throwing your money away taking the matter to court. I would like to see doctors sued for allowing old people in nursing homes to remain vitamin D deficient. I would like to see them sued for using the least effective form of Vitamin D2 to try to correct vitamin D insufficiency when they do detect it but while it is standard practice NOT to check 25(OH)D status and the "OFFICIAL" NHS guidance actually suggests the use of the least effective form (known not to be well tolerated/utilised in the elderly) then any individual prosection of an individual doctor for acting in the same way as almost every other UK doctor is bound to fail. It is a culture of mediocrity where it pays not to be the best or to be in the lead but simply to follow what other doctors do.

I believe very firmly that we should all take responsibility for our own health and do what we can to try to understand what may be going wrong with our own health. I try to provide links to sources of information that enable people to better understand their condition so they are in a better position to understand and possibly challenge poor quality health advice they may be provided with. In doing so I regularly upset the health professionals who visit and who then ask for those posts to be deleted.

We wouldn't want anything to disrupt their disease mongering would we?

V.Lucky

If you go go ahead with legal advice don't forget if you have Home Insurance you probably have legal protection that would cover you to fight this case at no expense to yourself. Plus they will only take you on if you have a good chance of success, so you would know if you were wasting yuor time.#

I'm not saying what you are proposing doing is right or wrong, just giving you some advice.

Mrs_pbradley936

I doubt you will get far because a really bad case is seen when a child starts weaning at about 6 months old. I have a friend with a daughter who has it and she was "failing to thrive" because she was so bad. Your wife is probably like me i.e irritable bowel made far worse by grains. I also have the skin form.

If I had a normal diet of cereal/toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner plus a few biscuits or a slice of cake I would be extremely ill. As it is I limit my grains but do not go so far as avoiding things rolled in flour or batter/breadcrumbs. If you have a severe case you would avoid so many things you might never go to a restaurant again.

SolicitorMidlands

Complain through the NHS complaints service. they have independent doctors review the case. if the complaint is upheld it is highly likely a legal case would be too. the two can run concurently.

i agree with the post about legal expenses insurance - use this if you have it. otherwise, instruct a solicitor and ask them to consider acting on a no win no fee basis.

i do some med neg work - the solicitor would need to review your medical records before being able to give a definitive view.

mr_rush

Good luck with it. Coeliac disease has peak incidence in childhood and again in the 5th decade of life.

PolishBigSpender

Isn't Coeliac disease one of the latest trendy things to be diagnosed with?

1sue23

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Isn't Coeliac disease one of the latest trendy things to be diagnosed with?

No it is not my husband was ill for years until when he was in his late 40s he lost a lot of weight and had a very swollen stomach ,he was in chronic pain and had constant runs of undigested food ,one day he collapsed at work and was rushed to hospital ,where he had a blood test that showed he needed a blood transfusion as he was severely anemic ,this was followed by a biopsy which showed up that he had undiagnosed coeliac disease and had had it for most of his life ,he has changed his diet now no gluten at all and he feels better now than he ever has in his entire life apparently the fact that he was undiagnosed puts him at a greater risk of developing certain cancers and every year he has to go back to the hospital for check ups because of this ,untreated it is a very nasty disease that makes the sufferer very poorly.

suki1964

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Isn't Coeliac disease one of the latest trendy things to be diagnosed with?

Its diagnosed more due to the leaps and bounds in medical science thats all but its been around since we have been eating grains.

Nicki

The problem with this is that to bring a medical negligence action you need to show that the doctor has acted negligently - ie in a way in which no competent doctor would have done. Given that your wife has seen a large number of doctors over a long period of time, and not one of them suspected coeliac disease, I think it would be difficult to make a case, especially as it is notoriously difficult to diagnose.

However, if you would like to take some advice about this, I've attached a link to an index of lawyers recommended by their peers who specialise in this area. Choose one who has a good review and is located close to you, and see what they say. Bear in mind however that all doctors are insured, and insurance companies tend to fight iffy cases right to the bitter death rather than settle out of court, so this could be a long and expensive fight for you.

http://www.chambersandpartners.co.uk/uk/search32.aspx?pid=46&parentkey=46&solbar=1