October 15th, 2009
A widow is considering legal action against an NHS trust after her husband died following an operation.
Joseph Gill, 58, was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in July for a lung cancer operation. However, he was given the wrong medication six times when staff mixed him up with another patient and he fell ill.
Despite this, he was taken in for the surgery to receive part of his lung on July 7th. Complications arose and he died on July 16th.
Eileen Gill, 55, said she blames NHS Grampian for her husband’s death and claims the nurses had called him George and repeatedly given him medication meant for a heart patient.
She is now demanding answers in order to consider pursuing a clinical negligence compensation claim.
"We’ve got a solicitor but can’t do anything until we know what drug he was given," she commented.
A spokesperson for NHS Grampian denied that the medication mix-up had led to Mr Gill’s death but said that lessons had been learnt since the mistakes.
This comes after research from the Care Quality Commission revealed that one in nine of the 392 NHS trusts in the UK performed badly or failed to improve in the last year.
Tags: Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Cancer Operation, Care Quality, Clinical Negligence Compensation, Compensation Claim, Grampian, Heart Patient, Joseph Gill, July 7th, Lung Cancer, Medication, Mr Gill, Nhs Trust, Nhs Trusts, Nurses, Quality Commission, Six Times, Solicitor, Spokesperson
Posted in Clinical Negligence News | No Comments »
September 9th, 2009
The family of a former miner have been awarded £85,000 in compensation after he died of a work-related lung disease.
Roy Gamble died of lung cancer at the age of 73 in 2005, 21 years after ending his career in Yorkshire’s coalfields
Doctors said he had developed cancer as a result of silicosis, which prompted him to pursue a compensation claim against his former employer British Coal in 2003, reports the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Mr Gamble asked his daughter Linda to continue the claim after he died and her efforts to secure a settlement have now proved successful.
It was finally accepted that exposure to silica dust in the pits was the root cause of the condition which led to Mr Gamble’s death, resulting in the compensation payout.
News of the settlement comes just days after the widow of an engineering worker from Stalybridge who died from mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos at work received a £60,000 compensation payment.
The Manchester Evening News reported that the case against Frederick Hughes’s former employer Vernon & Roberts was settled four years ago, but that his widow had to take action against the former directors of the company to obtain the money, as both the engineering business and its insurer had gone out of business.
Tags: Amp, British Coal, Compensation Claim, Compensation Payment, Daughter Linda, Insurer, Lung Cancer, Lung Disease, Manchester Evening News, Mesothelioma Asbestos, News Reported That, Pits, Root Cause, Silica Dust, Silicosis, Stalybridge, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Evening Post, Yorkshire Post
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May 20th, 2009
A man who is dying of terminal lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos as a teenager is to be paid £400,000 compensation.
David Smith, now 56, worked as an apprentice for Associated Electrical Industries at Trafford Park maintaining street lights when he was 15, the Manchester Evening News reports.
It is thought that this was the place where he was exposed to the deadly building fibres.
"I had no idea what we were working with could be so dangerous. We had no protection from the dust, it used to fall on me all the time," said Mr Smith.
He became ill in 2007 and was told he only had another 12 to 15 months to live. To provide for his family after his death, Mr Smith launched legal action against Associated Electrical Industries, now Alstom Energy.
The company has now agreed to a compensation settlement of £400,000 for Mr Smith, but declined to comment on the case.
Earlier this month, it was reported by Get Reading that the widow of a labourer, George Sharpe, is seeking compensation after his death from asbestos-related cancer.
Tags: 15 Months, Alstom, Apprentice, Asbestos, David Smith, Electrical Industries, George Sharpe, Labourer, Lung Cancer, Manchester Evening News, Mr Smith, News Reports, Quot, Teenager, Terminal Lung Cancer
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
February 12th, 2009
The widow of a man who died after being exposed to asbestos has secured a payout of £700,000 after it was ruled that her late husband’s employer was responsible.
Susan Smith launched legal action against the Co-Op in Leicester, where Michael Victor Smith had worked as a foreman, the Burton Mail reports.
She claimed that Mr Smith’s work on ceiling tiles had led to him breathing in asbestos dust, eventually culminating in his death from mesothelioma in 2004.
Judge Oliver-Jones QC ruled that the employer was negligent in that it did not protect Mr Smith from the dangers of exposure and agreed to the compensation.
In related news, Gordon Brown announced this week that there will be an announcement "very soon" regarding compensation and pleural plaques.
Pleural plaques are damage to the inside of the lung and they can lead to mesothelioma. It has been argued that sufferers should have better access to compensation.
Tags: Asbestos Dust, Burton Mail, Ceiling Tiles, Gordon Brown, Lead, Led, Leicester, Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer Victim, Mail Reports, Mesothelioma, Mr Smith, Oliver Jones, Pleural Plaques, Related News, Susan Smith, Victor Smith
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
December 8th, 2008
A pensioner whose wife died after years of washing his asbestos-contaminated clothes has received a compensation payout.
Alfred Eccles was exposed to the deadly material at the Universal Grinding Wheel Company in Stafford, where he worked from the 1960s to 1992, local paper the Sentinel attests.
Although he contracted lung cancer himself in 1988, it was not proven that this was as a result of his asbestos exposure and he recovered,
However, Patricia Eccles contracted mesothelioma and died in 2004 and Mr Eccles sought legal action for her death.
In a new development, the court ruled that his wife died as a result of her exposure to asbestos and Mr Eccles will now receive a compensation payout of £250,000.
This will cover the long-term care of their daughter, who has cerebral palsy, Mr Eccles said.
Exposure to asbestos has been recognised as a health hazard since the early 1900s, although many workers were exposed to the substance decades after this.
Family members and those living with asbestos workers can also develop cancer from inhaling particles left on clothes.
If a person can prove they were exposed to asbestos as a result of negligence, they may be able to make a claim for compensation as a result.
Tags: 1960s, Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Workers, Cerebral Palsy, Decades, Early 1900s, Eccles, Family Members, Health Hazard, Long Term Care, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, Negligence, Oap, Particles, Pensioner, Sentinel, Universal Grinding Wheel, Washing Clothes
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
