July 7th, 2009
A woman is suing a health trust for £100,000 after her baby was born with cystic fibrosis, even though she had had a test for the disease.
Julie Shanks, 41, went to the Eastern General Hospital in Edinburgh in 1994, where she had a saliva test. This was sent to the Western General Hospital and came back with a negative reading for her being a carrier of the faulty gene.
However, when her son was born, he had the life-threatening disease.
Ms Shanks argues that she suffered negligence in her antenatal care. She believes that the sample had showed a small positive and therefore should have been retested.
Judge Lady Stacey this week agreed that the case is "very important" and ruled that it should be referred to a hearing of evidence.
According to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the disease affects over 8,000 people in the UK. It is a condition that causes the sufferer to produce too much thick, sticky mucus, making it difficult for them to breathe and digest food.
Tags: Antenatal Care, Baby Born, Cystic Fibrosis, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Edinburgh, Faulty Gene, Health Trust, Life Threatening Disease, Negligence, Saliva Test, Shanks, Sufferer, Thick Sticky Mucus, Western General Hospital, Woman Health
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February 19th, 2009
A Welsh teenager who suffers from Erb’s palsy as a result of an injury sustained during her birth is to receive compensation.
Harriet Frobisher, now 15, was born at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan in 1994, the BBC reports.
However, during the delivery, Harriet became stuck in the birth canal. The family claimed that hospital staff had not followed correct procedures to resolve this and had instead tried to pull Harriet free.
Consequently, the nerves in her neck were stretched and she developed Erb’s palsy, which is a preventable birth defect that affects the shoulder, arm and hand. Her right arm now has severely limited movement.
Her parents, Gerry and Sharon Frobisher, launched legal action on her behalf in 2007 and the North Wales NHS Trust has now agreed to a settlement without admitting liability.
The exact sum of compensation is not known, but it is believed to be six figures.
Tags: Bbc, Birth Canal, Birth Defect, Erb S Palsy, Hospital Staff, Nerves, Nhs Trust, North Wales, Parents, Right Arm, Shoulder Arm, Six Figures, Sufferer, Teenager, Welsh
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August 7th, 2008
A woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis, a condition of the central nervous system that affects bodily actions, has received compensation from a hospital, it has been revealed.
Marjorie Corner claims she was left in her own waste for three days while she was a patient at Derriford Hospital last year because there was no suitable commode available and no wheelchair-accessible toilet on her ward.
The 70-year-old, who received a settlement of £7,000 from Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, had gone into hospital for a bowel examination.
Commenting on her experience, she said: "It was ghastly. They did not have a suitable commode so I was left in my bed. This wasn’t the nursing staff’s fault but it literally resulted in my lying in my own waste for three days," the BBC reports.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the trust said a complaints team worked closely with Ms Corner in 2007 to identify the problems and address them accordingly.
Tags: Accessible Toilet, Bbc, Central Nervous System, Hospitals Nhs Trust, Marjorie, Multiple Sclerosis, Plymouth, Spokeswoman, Sufferer, Wheelchair, Woman
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June 30th, 2008
A 12-year-old boy from Malta has won £4.25 million compensation after a UK hospital failed to diagnose an inherited disorder when he was a baby.
The condition went undetected for a further 12 months and, as a result, Luke Attard suffered brain damage, reports the Observer.
At a High Court hearing, Dr Gwilym Hosking was accused of failing to carry a routine blood test on Luke which would have identified a rare form of a genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU).
Specialist staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital eventually diagnosed the condition.
According to NHS Direct, PKU is a metabolic disorder which manifests itself in an enzyme defect rendering the sufferer unable to produce the essential amino acid tyrosine.
Dr Hosking died in October 2006. In May that year, Luke’s parents reached a settlement on the basis that Dr Hosking was 90 per cent liable.
Luke now lives with his family in East Sussex. Two of his three brothers also have PKU.
Tags: 12 Months, Amino Acid Tyrosine, Attard, Brain Damage, East Sussex, Enzyme Defect, Genetic Disorder, Great Ormond Street, Great Ormond Street Hospital, High Court Hearing, Hosking, Malta, Metabolic Disorder, Misdiagnosis, Pku, Routine Blood Test, Specialist Staff, Sufferer, Sussex
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