Delayed Treatment

Free advice for victims of delayed NHS treatment

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Delayed Treatment

Delayed treatment is a broad term which can arise as a result of a medical professional’s failure to diagnose a condition, which has ultimately led to a delay in treating it or, if the condition has already been diagnosed, the medical professional’s failure to act on the findings quickly enough.

A claim for delayed treatment may be brought if the delay in treating a condition has led to further suffering. Once diagnosed, a medical professional is required by law to put a treatment plan in place as soon as realistically possible to ensure that every effort is being made to treat the medical condition. If they don’t, this is classed as a negligent delay on their part and you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Delayed treatment describes any case where sufficient action has not been taken to treat a condition at the first possible opportunity. This could include cases where delayed treatment has occurred due to a medical professional diagnosing a condition but failing to refer a patient for treatment quickly enough. It also covers cases where a GP or other medical professional has failed to prescribe medication to a patient at the earliest possible stage or respond to test results quickly enough. All of these cases delay treatment in some way and as such could have serious consequences on an individual’s suffering.

At Mercury Legal Online we have helped many victims of delayed treatment and their families to claim compensation for delayed treatment. We understand that this will be an incredibly difficult time for you and your family and appreciate that discussing some aspects of the case will be very difficult for you to bring up. With this type of claim, the compensation amounts awarded can help to fund any further treatment needed as a result of initial delays. If you or your loved one think you may have a claim for delayed treatment and you’d like to discuss your legal options, give us a call on 0800 122 3130 or contact us online here.

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Claiming For Medical Negligence

Clinical Negligence Claim

There are times that the medical procedures and care we receive may fall short of everything you expect to receive, and things can go drastically wrong, leaving you worse off and perhaps, severely injured. Watch our medical negligence videos for more information about making a medical claim.

The Surgeon with the God complex

Hospital Negligence, News

In a high profile news story this week, a surgeon who allegedly carried out completely unnecessary operations has been convicted of intentionally wounding patients. Ian Paterson, 59, from Altrincham in Greater Manchester has been granted bail and is due to be sentenced late this month. During the 7-week hearing some of the surgeon’s victims gave statements about how Paterson misled them into thinking that they had serious medical issues and carried out operations for conditions that in many cases the patients were not even suffering from. One female victim who underwent surgery by Paterson six times in seven years said that he “…tried every trick in the book to avoid accountability for his disgusting crimes. Mr Paterson charmed and manipulated his patients into trusting him. I for one trusted him with my life.” The victim had been told by Paterson that she had breast cancer and went through extensive surgery to remove the cancer, then a full mastectomy to remove the breast. It was later found that she had not been suffering from breast cancer at all and that he had made up the results so as to continue performing dangerous and unnecessary surgery. As well as working privately at the Little Aston and Parkway Hospitals in the West Midlands, Paterson carried out hundreds of unnecessary operations on NHS patients, costing one NHS Trust around £17.8 million in damages and legal costs. Sometimes even good doctors make mistakes, sometimes crucial pieces of machinery can fail, and sometimes a simple error of judgement on the part of someone treating you can cause significant pain and damage. Fortunately it is very... read more

7 Year fight for medical negligence compensation finally over for widower

Hospital Negligence, News

The widower of a woman who died from a blood clot just 16 days after the birth of her daughter has won a medical negligence case and undisclosed compensation from the Leicester Hospital where she died. Darren Taylor of Braunstone, near Leicester had to fight for seven years before the hospital admitted that mistakes had been made in his wife’s treatment. She died from a pulmonary embolism that was caused by a deep vein thrombosis (also known as DVT) in one of her legs that was due to pregnancy. When Mrs Taylor was found collapsed in the bathroom of their family home in March 2010, she was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary, but the doctor who saw her did not follow the hospital’s guideline on investigating suspected DVT on the basis that at that time, ultra-sound scans were not carried out at weekends. It is believed that if a scan had taken place, the DVT would have been noticed and appropriate action could have been taken to avoid the development of the pulmonary embolism, and hence save her life. In addition to the pain caused by the death of his wife, the situation was made even more insufferable by the NHS Trust’s insistence of its innocence of any negligence regarding the death. Speaking after the case, Mr Taylor said: “I am relieved that this is all over. It has been a long, hard seven years, but I am happy we have got the NHS to own up and the Trust says that lessons have been learnt.” If you or someone you care for has suffered as a result of... read more

77-Year-old woman dies after choking on doughnut in hospital

Hospital Negligence, News

A 77-year-old lady from Leicester died after choking on a doughnut that she was given while staying in hospital. The lady had been admitted to the Evington Centre’s Mental Health ward at Leicester General Hospital, run by the Leicestershire Partnership Trust, in June last year. She had undergone a behaviour assessment – which included looking into her eating habits – and was placed on a “soft food” diet to avoid any potentially dangerous incidents. However, contrary to this she was given foods such as toast and pizza by staff who were supposedly caring for her. When she began to eat a doughnut on the 25th July while left on her own, she began to choke. By the time the emergency team arrived the lady had suffered a massive heart attack from which she suffered significant brain damage, and she died less than one week later. A spokesman for the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust said: “We are sorry this tragic incident occurred while the lady was in our care and accept there is more we could have done to prevent this incident from occurring”. He added: “We carried out our own investigation into the incident, which we have shared with the deceased’s family and the coroner. We developed a detailed action plan following our investigation, which includes a number of different steps to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident in the future.” If you or someone you care for has suffered while under the care of a hospital or any medical facility, you could well be entitled to make a claim for compensation. While we all understand that it... read more