NHS negligence complaint

chawkins

Hi there,

please could anyone advise me.
I am in the process of complaining about the negligence my Mother had to go through before she passed away in 2018.
Her GP failed to do an urgent home visit to assess her in order to complete a ‘Do not attempt resuscitation’ order, despite my pleas to him, and instead came out to see her 2 days after I told him she was unconscious and in my opinion, dying.
After he visited her he did complete the form at my request, because it would have been completely inappropriate to attempt resuscitation on her if she stopped breathing, however although according to him he sent an urgent referral to the District Nurses for end of life care, we were not contacted by them until a week after she passed away.
im a nurse, and when someone is dying they have end of life care given by nurses who visited the home, they are prescribed several different medications to make them as comfortable as possible until they pass away, pain relief, sedation and a drug to help them breathe comfortably.
Because my Mother didn’t receive an assessment or care from the EOL team she died in considerable distress.

At the time my 3 siblings were at the house and witnessed this also sadly.
I was witness to this and I have developed PTSD as a result.
It affected me so much that I was off work for 1 year following her death and I had to leave my place of work as I couldn’t cope with situations that mirrored my Mothers condition.
I still suffer nightmares and severe anxiety.
The impact of what happened has changed me as a person.
There was also a financial impact, as I was off work for so long but also because I had to change jobs and decrease my hours to part time.
Prior to all this I was a Manager in a well paid position, well on my way to being an Advanced Nurse Practitioner.
This has ruined my career, because now I can barely leave the house to go to work, and I dread my shifts in case of reminders of what happened, which is unavoidable in my profession.
i made an initial complaint to NHS England but at the time I was in such a delicate state I wasn’t able to pursue it.
i have, in the last few months, reinstated the complaint and I have received the GP’s response and NHS England’s findings and nothing has been done.
I have escalated my complaint today to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
what I need to know is: should I get legal representation? If so does anyone know of a ‘No win not fee’ company that deals with this sort of issue?
 I’m going to be completely honest, I would like compensation for what I, my siblings and ultimately my Mother, went through.
Do you think this complaint could result in compensation? 

Because financially I am crippled now and it all stems from watching my Mother die in agony, gasping for breath....which should not have happened and is completely unacceptable.
I want justice for her.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

many thanks,
claire

elsien

Justice for your mother and financial compensation for you are two different and separate things.
With regards to the complaint,  the response should have explained  the findings and, where appropriate, provide apologies and information about what's being done as a result of your complaint. The complaints procedure is about getting an explanation, not cash. Now you have gone to the ombudsman, it's a matter of waiting for the outcome.

With regards to compensation,  no win no fee companies charge a hefty fee and only take on cases with a good chance of winning. That's different to the complaint with regards to any negligence towards your mother. The only way to find out is to talk to them to see what they say. 

Toothsmith

I am really sorry you had such an awful experience. 

But - letting a no win-no fee ambulance chaser in on the case will set your mental recovery back years and add to your stress levels. 

There are decent medical solicitors out there, but working on the nw-nf basis will not get you the sort of compassionate service you're needing. 

Are you prepared to drag up every little detail again and be cross examined on it all? 

Melanie1972

I feel your pain.  My mum passed away last September.  She'd suffered splitting headaches all day, loss of vision and vomiting.  She rang my brother up crying for help (she was 80 - at that age they don't cry!) as he lives nearest.  After calling 999 they were told to go to minor injuries in a district hospital (located in a different town to the main A&E).  She was taken, throwing up in a plastic bag in the back of the car.  She lost consciousness and was dead less than 24 hours later.  We have yet to officially log our complaint, mainly because my brother blames himself for not being tougher, ignoring the call handler and going to the major emergency hospital.  I'm interested in your post and the responses as it applies to me too.  We started off our complaint with our local Healthwatch (there should be one local to you), they will talk through your issues and help with the admin side of your complaint - I don't think they deal with a financial compensation side of things though.  Let us know how you get on.

elsien

Just to add to the above post, there will be an NHS complaints advocacy service in every area, but it may not be Healthwatch. The information should be on the trust website though. 

ripplyuk

The ombudsman can award money. They did in my case (which was nowhere near as serious or tragic as yours). Technically, they ‘advise’ the NHS to pay whatever amount. It’s not legally binding but usually the NHS will go along with it. They generally do not award high amounts. 

I would wait for the ombudsman’s decision, depending on how long they take (Mine was about 2yrs!) and speak to a medical negligence solicitor. Having an ombudsman’s decision in your favour will help but isn’t necessary. You can still take legal action. 

keithdc

chawkins said:

Hi there,

please could anyone advise me.
I am in the process of complaining about the negligence my Mother had to go through before she passed away in 2018.
Her GP failed to do an urgent home visit to assess her in order to complete a ‘Do not attempt resuscitation’ order, despite my pleas to him, and instead came out to see her 2 days after I told him she was unconscious and in my opinion, dying.
After he visited her he did complete the form at my request, because it would have been completely inappropriate to attempt resuscitation on her if she stopped breathing, however although according to him he sent an urgent referral to the District Nurses for end of life care, we were not contacted by them until a week after she passed away.
im a nurse, and when someone is dying they have end of life care given by nurses who visited the home, they are prescribed several different medications to make them as comfortable as possible until they pass away, pain relief, sedation and a drug to help them breathe comfortably.
Because my Mother didn’t receive an assessment or care from the EOL team she died in considerable distress.

At the time my 3 siblings were at the house and witnessed this also sadly.
I was witness to this and I have developed PTSD as a result.
It affected me so much that I was off work for 1 year following her death and I had to leave my place of work as I couldn’t cope with situations that mirrored my Mothers condition.
I still suffer nightmares and severe anxiety.
The impact of what happened has changed me as a person.
There was also a financial impact, as I was off work for so long but also because I had to change jobs and decrease my hours to part time.
Prior to all this I was a Manager in a well paid position, well on my way to being an Advanced Nurse Practitioner.
This has ruined my career, because now I can barely leave the house to go to work, and I dread my shifts in case of reminders of what happened, which is unavoidable in my profession.
i made an initial complaint to NHS England but at the time I was in such a delicate state I wasn’t able to pursue it.
i have, in the last few months, reinstated the complaint and I have received the GP’s response and NHS England’s findings and nothing has been done.
I have escalated my complaint today to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
what I need to know is: should I get legal representation? If so does anyone know of a ‘No win not fee’ company that deals with this sort of issue?
 I’m going to be completely honest, I would like compensation for what I, my siblings and ultimately my Mother, went through.
Do you think this complaint could result in compensation? 

Because financially I am crippled now and it all stems from watching my Mother die in agony, gasping for breath....which should not have happened and is completely unacceptable.
I want justice for her.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

many thanks,
claire

There are two issues here- the impact on your mother and the impact on you. 
Regarding your mother, the DNACPR is irrelevant as it was completed before she died. There is the issue of suboptimal end-of-life care which may have caused distress/ pain. I am unclear whether your claim is that the GP or district nurses were negligent. It is also unclear how your mother was when the GP saw her and how imminent her death was. Any compensation is likely to be very modest. 

The impact on you is unclear. Firstly, you will need to show that a duty of care was owed to you. Secondly, you will need to show that the loss was attributable to the breech in the duty of care. Even if you can overcome the first issue, the second stage will be very tricky as you will need to show that you would have not have experienced PTSD etc had your mother died more comfortably. Given that stress and anxiety are likely following any death, this may be challenging. 

Manxman_in_exile

I would agree with what keithdc says.  You would have a lot of hurdles to cross to make any successful claim for compensation.  His second paragraph summarises what you would have to prove, on the balance of probabilities in court, to win a claim for your suffering.

Unfortunately you also cannot claim for pain and distress suffered by a third party and as, presumably, you were not financially dependent on your mother, you have no financial loss arising from her death and any negligence she may have suffered.  (I apologise for being blunt and perhaps appearing insensitive, but it's better you realise this before starting any legal claim).

If you do want to seek legal advice anyway, it's probably a waste of time* seeing a NWNF solicitor.  They'll only take on cases they are almost certain of winning and if you do win, they'll be taking 25 - 30% of any compensation you win.  See if you can find a specialist medical** negligence solicitor and ask them if you have a good case to proceed with.  You'll have to pay for this advice.  (Some solicitors will give you 30 minutes free advice, but if you find one, make sure they specialise in medical** negligence).

Also as others have said, if you want to pursue this legally, you'll have to re-live it all.  Probably more than once.

*Actually, it may not be a waste of time seeing a NWNF solicitor if they tell you straight away you have no hope of compensation.

**  I'm not sure if this is a medical negligence claim or "just" a personal injury claim?

QuackQuackOops

Just get on with your life and put it behind you.

Noone is negligent here.