What should have been a routine surgical procedure led to a life threatening bleed and a drastically extended stay in hospital due to clinicians’ failures
A patient of North Manchester Hospital has been awarded a six figure sum in compensation after a failed operation to treat pancreatitis resulted in months of unnecessary suffering.
Stephen, a civil engineer, contracted pancreatitis, a condition caused by the inflammation of the pancreas, which left him in crippling pain after antibiotics failed to soothe his symptoms. Before he was able to meet with his consultant to discuss possible treatment options, he was rushed into hospital when he developed an infection and his condition worsened.
Routine operation led to severe internal bleeding
A routine operation to drain the cyst that the pancreatitis had caused to develop in fact led to his condition worsening and when the 55 year old was taken back into theatre it was discovered that he was suffering from a life-threatening bleed.
Operation wrongly performed
Stephen instructed Thompsons Solicitors to investigate a claim for compensation and find out what went wrong. Thompsons’ investigations discovered that in the first operation the stent used to drain the cyst was wrongly positioned and had severed blood vessels. This meant that it took him much longer to recover and also delayed a further operation he needed to remove his gall bladder, which was the initial cause of the pancreatitis.
Almost 10 months spent in hospital
Stephen said: “I trusted that I was in good hands at North Manchester Hospital and expected that I’d need around six months off work to recover. However, the unsuccessful operation resulted in me spending a total of 39 weeks – almost 10 months - in hospital. I had to take extended unpaid time off work which eventually resulted in me being made redundant.
“Besides the financial pressure of not being able to work, the entire experience was very traumatic for me and my family. I attempted to go back to work a couple of times but this usually resulted in being sent home in pain or collapsing due to the pain my gall bladder was giving me. It ended up taking me a good two to three years to feel myself again.
“I was very disappointed with how I was treated by my doctors. I actually found out more about what had happened to me from Thompsons’ than I ever did from the clinicians who treated me.”
Linda Millband from Thompsons Solicitors said: “Bleeding is a common risk of the procedure to drain a cyst in the stomach. However, in this case, with our specialist medical negligence knowledge and advice from a number of experts in the field, we were able to identify that the operation had in fact been performed negligently. We hope the compensation will now help give Stephen and his family some financial security following his redundancy.”
Concerned about negligent medical treatment or diagnoses? Talk to us for advice and support today.
Our discreet and compassionate medical negligence solicitors are experienced in the full range of medical injury claims and will work with you to establish whether you have a medical negligence compensation claim.
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