Claiming for medical negligence.

Legacy_user

Hello folks,

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.

18 months ago my mother had what she believed a heart attack. She was rushed to hospital on the Thursday afternoon. They kept her in while carrying out checks.

She has always had issues surrounding her heart having had major surgery in the past. She was however quite young 49.

She regularly went for check ups every 3-6 months.

Getting back when she went to hospital on the Thursday they checked her heart briefly. They seemed to think that the problem was not that. They then were checking the liver and didn't seem to know exactly where the problem was.

The next day (Friday) my mum was up and talking but required to stay in hospital for more tests. That evening she passed away. She has taken a heart attack and passed very quickly. The post mortem indicated that the cause of death was entirely heart related.

At the moment we have a meeting planned with the hospital after 18 months of asking questions.

What I wanted to know is has anyone any experience in this. I'm not trying to find blame or point fingers as such, however I do believe someone missed something after us insisting to the hospital the heart was the likely cause( we aren't doctors nor tried to be but with my mum's history we were confident it was heart related considering she felt like she was having a heart attack).

I'm interested to hear anyone who has had a previous situation. We really don't know what to expect from the meeting but it will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

Surely had they detected it was heart issues maybe they could have operated and my mother would have still been here today rather than waste time looking at other parts of the body.

Any info anyone can give would be great.

Marcon

frannyj543 wrote: »

I'm not trying to find blame or point fingers as such,

...and yet you've titled your post 'Claiming for medical negligence' which sounds very much as if that is exactly what you are trying to do. A solicitor with the appropriate background is therefore your starting point.

tacpot12

You need to ask what checks were done.

Potential checks are:
ECG
Blood test for high troponin
Angiogram

The first two of these would normally be carried out in A&E if a heart attack were suspected. The last isis normally only requested by cardiologist following a diagnosis of a heart attack.

You also need to ask what medicines were prescribed and whether any of were prescribed to treat a heart attack.

troubleinparadise

I hope you get some explanation from your meeting from the notes made on your mother’s admission about what tests were run that day, and why it was thought it might be her liver, and not her heart, and what they feel led to her decline.

It is not always possible to save everyone, even if the 100% correct course of action has been taken; an operation may not have been appropriate in her particular case. Sadly your Mum sounds as though she had had her health issues for a long time.

It sounds as though you need a full explanation from the hospital what they were acting upon at that time, and what and why they were treating her for according to her symptoms. This is your chance to ask all of the questions you have had eating away at you for 18 months. Prepare well beforehand with your list of questions, and write down the answers.l

As has already been said, compensation claims would be made using a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence matters. They would also need to have full information, and will not proceed if they feel there is not a case to answer.

I’m sorry you have been worrying about this for so long - I hope you get the answers to your questions.

Yorkshireman99

frannyj543 wrote: »

Hello folks,

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.

18 months ago my mother had what she believed a heart attack. She was rushed to hospital on the Thursday afternoon. They kept her in while carrying out checks.

She has always had issues surrounding her heart having had major surgery in the past. She was however quite young 49.

She regularly went for check ups every 3-6 months.

Getting back when she went to hospital on the Thursday they checked her heart briefly. They seemed to think that the problem was not that. They then were checking the liver and didn't seem to know exactly where the problem was.

The next day (Friday) my mum was up and talking but required to stay in hospital for more tests. That evening she passed away. She has taken a heart attack and passed very quickly. The post mortem indicated that the cause of death was entirely heart related.

At the moment we have a meeting planned with the hospital after 18 months of asking questions.

What I wanted to know is has anyone any experience in this. I'm not trying to find blame or point fingers as such, however I do believe someone missed something after us insisting to the hospital the heart was the likely cause( we aren't doctors nor tried to be but with my mum's history we were confident it was heart related considering she felt like she was having a heart attack).

I'm interested to hear anyone who has had a previous situation. We really don't know what to expect from the meeting but it will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

Surely had they detected it was heart issues maybe they could have operated and my mother would have still been here today rather than waste time looking at other parts of the body.

Any info anyone can give would be great.

Not all heart related problems are operable on and to suggest the failed to do so sounds very wide of the mark. The reality is that despite the amazing progress medicine is not not a perfect science. BNy all means have a meeting but forget about compensation.

Keep_pedalling

This does not sound like negligence. They kept her in for further investigation and unfortunately she had a heart attach before they could diagnose the problem. Had they sent her home with a couple of aspirins then that would be another matter.

Unless they missed something obvious then there is no case to answer.

System

Thanks for all the replies.

What has also bothered us is that 3 weeks before she had her regular check up with the heart doctor who didn't seem to notice anything irregular.

The fact is that she went in with what she believed was a heart attack. They said that her issues weren't heart related( albiet they had only done whatever checks can be done in 24 hours) and where starting to look towards a different direction.

Surely if there was something up at least one warning sign may have flashed up. To say it doesn't seem heart related to 12 hours later a heart attack is abit hard to believe.

While I credit the NHS and the work they do they are extremely stretched in the UK.

Money isn't important I don't care about it. My concern is that it doesn't happen to other families if something has been overlooked.

While I understand the body is complex and things can happen. It could happen me now however if I had a heart condition, I was going for regular check ups, I go in with what seems a heart attack and I was to die 24 hours after being admitted and told it wasn't heart related I would certainly like to think someone would be asking questions.

Yorkshireman99

frannyj543 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.

What has also bothered us is that 3 weeks before she had her regular check up with the heart doctor who didn't seem to notice anything irregular.

The fact is that she went in with what she believed was a heart attack. They said that her issues weren't heart related( albiet they had only done whatever checks can be done in 24 hours) and where starting to look towards a different direction.

Surely if there was something up at least one warning sign may have flashed up. To say it doesn't seem heart related to 12 hours later a heart attack is abit hard to believe.

While I credit the NHS and the work they do they are extremely stretched in the UK.

Money isn't important I don't care about it. My concern is that it doesn't happen to other families if something has been overlooked.

While I understand the body is complex and things can happen. It could happen me now however if I had a heart condition, I was going for regular check ups, I go in with what seems a heart attack and I was to die 24 hours after being admitted and told it wasn't heart related I would certainly like to think someone would be asking questions.

What you need to understand is that medicine is not an exact science. Erors do occcur even with the best of care. In my case I saw five different GPs before a diagnosis was made by a nurse practitioner who happened to have seen a case like mine before. The result was that within 2 hours I was in hospital being checked over by a cardiologist specialist, He disanosed the need for an immdeiate angiogram and 24 hours later I had an emergency triple bypass. He told me subsequently that I could have died at any moment but my symptoms were not nearly as obvious as might have been the case. Just luck. It happens.

System

I do understand that. As I said the body is complex and things can change quickly.

However if something was missed I would like whoever missed it to be held accountable.

In every other walk of life if you don't do a job correct there's accountability.

Maybe it's impossible to prove maybe it isn't but there has to be a huge amount of incompetence considering the amount of money the NHS has to pay out due to negligence. Again I reiterate the money is irrelevant. What is relevant is that IF there were mistakes, or if more could have been done before then I want to know why it wasn't.

I'm in no way bitter about it I understand life is fragile and can change in the blink of an eye. However when you spend numerous times getting check ups, getting tests done 3 weeks before and you take sick it's concerning.

What is also concerning is that 1 hour before I got the call she was up and talking and they didn't seem like anything was of major concern with the checks that they had taken the previous 24 hours.

There's nothing wrong with asking questions. Nothing can be gained in regards to my mother but if it helps someone else then that's good enough for me.

Everything they did may have been 100% correct however under the circumstances I feel I should just make sure. Wouldn't you do the same if one hour you leave a family member seemingly in good spirits only to get a call one hour later. Especially when they are concerning themselves with liver and kidneys when they know for the past 20 years my mum had issues with the heart.

SevenOfNine

For personal reasons this is not a discussion I want to participate in, so I'll just throw in a couple of suggestions.

Perhaps you might start by requesting your mother's notes.

Contact PALS https://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Patient-advice-and-liaison-services-(PALS)/LocationSearch/363 usually located within most hospitals & see what advice they can offer regarding interpretation of the notes, and/or instigating a complaint etc

Heart problems can affect other organs in the body extremely negatively, not least the liver & kidneys - perhaps the hospital were more worried about those showing major signs of failing because of the heart problems?

Yes, if you feel unhappy with her treatment you should begin the process of finding answers but remember this...........

Would have, could have, should have, if only, what if. It's a torturous list & an even more torturous journey, diagnosis mistakes can & will continue to be made, & yes, a catastrophically heavy price paid but what will not change is that you will still have lost a dearly loved family member.

Answers & accountability won't reduce your level of loss or grief & TBH "negligence" doesn't seem to be present here, not at face value from what you've said. But you must do what you feel you need to do.

Good luck & I'm sorry for your loss.

getmore4less

Was there an inquest?

That is where the cause of death and analysis events leading up to it are scrutinised to see if there ways to avoid prevent future deaths.