Negligent Locum?

Rainey_LB

We all have to take responsibility for our own health, if you think you have been misdiagnosed and are that ill, call back speak to someone else if necessary, ring NHSD, call your GP out of hours, if your having severe breathing problems call an ambulance there are other options.

If she has been diagnosed COPD and knew she was that ill why wait another week before seeking further help and letting her health deteriorate further?

However, I do hope your friend's health has improved and has now received the correct treatment.

Fondue_2

It's always difficult to say without knowing the full facts and seeing the medical records (I'm a solicitor specialising in this area of law), but potentially I would say that she does have a case, particularly in view of the unprompted letter of apology. I suspect that the advice that he gave her about going to hospital was too vague to discharge his duty of care, in light both of her history and the fact that she indicated to him that she wouldn't be able to take herself.

However she may struggle to prove that she has suffered significant injury and loss as a result, and even if she can, her claim is still likely to be very low value and unlikely to justify the costs of a full investigation. She may be able to find a solicitor who is willing to take on the case with a view to settling it quickly without expert evidence in view of the letter of apology (though it would depend on exactly what this says), but this won't help her immediate financial situation as she would still be looking at at least a few months before any settlement would be reached.

esmf73

This is a very difficult situation, especially in these times where the out of hours doctor is normally in one location and covers a huge area. I live in Yorkshire and although the OOH centre is just down the road from me they cover a very rural area of well over 50 miles in radius. This means that the doctor has to be available to cover everything from a heart attack right on the edge of his area, through to a cold in the neighbour down the road.

It is possible that the doctor took the opinion that with the facilities that he/she had at their disposal and with the facilities available at the local hospital and the condition that your friend has that it was in your friends interest to go to hospital.

That said, you mention that the doctor sounded dismissive of your friends condition - this is not acceptable, but is not a cause for medical complaint - more a complaint against the locums manner. I would get your friend to write back to the locum (assuming the address was on the letter that was sent) stating that this apology is not acceptable, and that due to the possible outcome (death) that she will be sending a letter to the local health authority.

To be honest I don't imagine she'll get much more than another apology as she did have the choice to phone an ambulance and she did make it to the doctors a week later. Not acceptable I know, but this will be taken in to account. It may also be that her doctor has an issue with this locum - another thing to take into consideration. Depends how much she wants to push it and how much the stress will affect her.

donteatthat

SkintGypsy wrote: »

I would imagine that would depend on whether an alternative action taken by the locum would have altered the prognosis of the OP's friend, and therefore the financial impact upon her.

You can't claim medical negligence for financial harm! The locum gave sound advice - go to hospital if she was that bad. She didn't, so clearly she didn't feel that unwell and that's how it would be seen from the perspective of the locums defence. Even if he did go to see her, she would still have had to get off her bum and get the prescription. She has had a chest infectiand on top of a chronic illness, and as there is no lasting damage there is no claim for negligence.

donteatthat

rachbc wrote: »

Yes she could have died - but you can't claim compensation for what might have happened regardless of if he is negligent or not!

I suspect a"where there blame there's a claim" solicitor would tell her to make a claim and I suspect a PCT would possibly pay up out of court to avoid the expense of defending a case and it costing all us tax payers even more than the couple of weeks wages she would get.

I don't even think a no-win-no-fee ambulance chasing solicitor would entertain this one! They take their fee out of the compensation, so they take on cases they are sure they will win, and will win enough to pay them back.
Fwiw, COPD usually goes hand in hand with lifestyle issues ie smoking, so can we have further disclosure of the medical history of your friend OP?

cheepskate_2

i'm with everyone here, she was told good advice and to go to hospital if it was that bad.

She couldnt make it to doctors , but a week later, when im assuming the illness is even worse she managed to make it to the docs. How come, she couldnt make it the first time when she wasnt as bad?

Also she has friends, dont know why one of them wouldnt do her a favour and take her to the docs when they heard she was so bad.

donteatthat

And if the second GP was that concerned about her O2 why didn't he send her to hospital?

donteatthat

Fondue wrote: »

However she may struggle to prove that she has suffered significant injury and loss as a result, and even if she can, her claim is still likely to be very low value and unlikely to justify the costs of a full investigation. She may be able to find a solicitor who is willing to take on the case with a view to settling it quickly without expert evidence in view of the letter of apology (though it would depend on exactly what this says), but this won't help her immediate financial situation as she would still be looking at at least a few months before any settlement would be reached.

I agree, and that's the problem as the indemnity company would go for expert advice. Also Fondue I'm not sure a letter of apology always does infer culpability and it was not totally unprompted as the GP had spoken to the locum on the phone about his management of the situation.

zaksmum

Mountain of debt, yes it is the same friend. Her sons did eventually visit...she'd been texting them and they were "too busy" to visit her (this was at the time of the very heavy snowfalls). When they did visit they were horrified at the state she was in and that's how she eventually made it to the Gp, with the help of one son.

zaksmum

donteatthat wrote: »

You can't claim medical negligence for financial harm! The locum gave sound advice - go to hospital if she was that bad. She didn't, so clearly she didn't feel that unwell and that's how it would be seen from the perspective of the locums defence. Even if he did go to see her, she would still have had to get off her bum and get the prescription. She has had a chest infectiand on top of a chronic illness, and as there is no lasting damage there is no claim for negligence.

I would say you can claim medical negligence for financial harm, if negligence was such that, say, you lost your job as a result of being temporarily unable to work.

The issue is that my friend feels she would have been able to return much earlier to work had the locum given her medication when she first asked for help.

His attitude was almost angry with her on the phone...like, if you're THAT bad, go to hospital ...next please..!

She didn't feel able to argue with him and should have called an ambulance but just stayed in bed and prayed to feel better in the morning.

And no, my friend doesn't smoke. There's a family history of the COPD that has severely affected many members so she knows better than to smoke.

Oldernot wiser, thank you. I didn't know you could get a prescription for prednisolone to use when needed and will tell her.