September 8th, 2009
Stockton Borough Council has defended its footpath maintenance regime, despite paying out more than £1 million in compensation to people injured in trips and falls on its pavements in the last five years.
Figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request made by the Liberal Democrats showed that local authorities in England paid out £82 million to settle compensation claims related to accidents caused by the poor condition of pavements between 2004 and 2009.
In Stockton, the council made 26 payments totalling £1.2 million – a significantly higher figure than in neighbouring areas, but well short of the £10.2 million paid by Leeds City Council.
The amount may rise, as Stockton Borough Council is still dealing with a further 67 compensation claims.
A council spokesman told the Darlington & Stockton Times that it had implemented a new pavement maintenance regime in order to reduce the number of accidents.
"That has resulted in a dramatic decrease in claims where compensation was made, from 15 claims in 2004-5 to only one in 2008-9," he said.
Tags: 2m, Accident Compensation, Accidents, Darlington, Dramatic Decrease, Footpath Maintenance, Freedom Of Information, Freedom Of Information Request, Leeds City Council, Liberal Democrats, Local Authorities In England, Neighbouring Areas, Pavement Maintenance, Pavements, Quot, Regime, Spokesman, Stockton Borough Council, Stockton Council
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
September 4th, 2009
A woman died because her meningitis was mistakenly diagnosed as swine flu, an inquest has heard.
Jasvir Kaur Gill, 48, had begun to feel unwell in early August and called the NHS helpline, which diagnosed her with swine flu.
She was told to get some Tamiflu from the hospital, but this did not appear to have an effect and she started to feel worse.
Her son Sukhvinder Gill called a paramedic out, who checked the patient over and advised her to take paracetamol and water before leaving five minutes later.
However, Ms Gill had a heart attack five hours after the visit and although her family tried to perform CPR, she died shortly afterwards.
An inquest discovered that Ms Gill had died from meningococcal septiceamia.
"Everyone seems to be [talking about] swine flu, swine flu, swine flu. What she had were also symptoms of meningitis, but they didn’t think of that," commented Mr Gill.
In order for a clinical negligence claim to succeed, it must be proven that the actions of health professionals caused further injury, pain or suffering to the victim.
Tags: Clinical Negligence, Early August, Five Minutes, Flu, Health Professionals, Heart Attack, Inquest, Kaur, Mr Gill, Negligence Claim, Nhs Helpline, Paracetamol, Paramedic, Quot, Swine Flu, Symptoms Of Meningitis, Tamiflu, Unwell, Woman
Posted in Clinical Negligence News | No Comments »
September 2nd, 2009
A number of diners are continuing to fight for compensation after they got food poisoning from a restaurant in Ilkley.
According to the Ilkley Gazette, as many as 60 people came down with the gastro-intestinal bug giardia lamblia after eating at the Saffron in 2007.
The owners were sentenced to community service in court this week for failing to run the restaurant in a safe manner and they have been banned from working with food for life.
However, the affected diners – who suffered from diarrhoea and weight loss – sought legal advice in order to get compensation for their suffering.
They are pursuing claims through the Saffron’s insurers, since the restaurant has now closed down.
Recorder Carl Gumsley said the eatery had been run in a "criminally inept" way and that it was "an accident waiting to happen".
Giardia lamblia is a single-celled organism that first came to light in the UK among those returning from abroad. It can be passed on in a number of ways, most commonly through contaminated water filters, BBC Health attests.
Tags: Bbc, Contaminated Water, Diarrhoea, Diners, Food Poisoning, Giardia Lamblia, Health, Ilkley Gazette, Legal Advice, Quot, Saffron, Single Celled Organism, Suffering, Water Filters, Weight Loss
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
August 24th, 2009
A man has been awarded £28,000 in compensation after taking part in a drug trial that almost killed him.
Leslie Thomas from Ely was invited to test Vioxx by his doctor in 2003 after trials suggested that it could be a viable cure for prostate cancer, the Ely Standard reports.
However, weeks after first taking the drug, Mr Thomas was suffering from severe diarrhea and had a temperature of over 100 degrees F.
Six months after beginning the trial, he was taken to hospital where he was put on a drip and treated for septiceamia.
After being left with an incurable disease called ulcerative colitis, Mr Thomas decided to take legal action against Merck Sharpe and Dohme.
After initially offering only £2,000 for his ordeal, the company has now agreed to a payout of £28,000.
"£28,000 is not much for what we went through, but at least we won … £2,000 was an insult," Mr Thomas commented.
Earlier this month, experts warned that GlaxoSmithKline could be facing millions of pounds in compensation claims after it was found that the antidepressant Seroxat could cause birth defects.
Tags: Birth Defects, Compensation Claims, Diarrhea, Drip, Ely, Glaxosmithkline, Incurable Disease, Insult, Leslie Thomas, Merck, Merck Sharpe And Dohme, Mr Thomas, Ordeal, Prostate Cancer, Quot, Seroxat, Six Months, Ulcerative Colitis, Vioxx
Posted in Clinical Negligence News | No Comments »
August 4th, 2009
A man who was injured while hunting for fossils in Dorset is seeking compensation from the owners of the land he was on.
Dave McGowan, 41, had been looking for specimens along the shoreline at Seatown near Bridport when a section of the cliff suddenly sheared off and fell towards him.
He said he managed to jump out of the way, but his leg became trapped and was crushed by the falling boulders.
Mr McGowan was airlifted to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester and had to have pins inserted to treat his broken leg and ankle. He was told that the damage could have been much worse had he not been wearing walking boots, but he will still not return to work for three months.
The victim claims that more warning signs should have been in place to warn people of the dangers of falling rocks and is now trying to find out who owns the land in order to claim compensation.
"If it had been a kid, they would have been killed. If there were notices to say how dangerous it is … people wouldn’t go there. I wouldn’t have gone there," he pointed out.
Seatown is situated close to Charmouth and visitors frequent the beach looking for fossils in both directions, according to Discovering Fossils.
Tags: Boulders, Bridport, Broken Leg, Charmouth, Dave Mcgowan, Dorchester, Dorset County Hospital, Falling Rocks, Fossil Hunter, Fossils, Hunting, Pins, Quot, Shoreline, Specimens, Three Months, Walking Boots, Warning Signs
Posted in Personal Injury News | No Comments »
