Accident and Emergency claims
Medical negligence at A&E can be life changing. Find out if you have a compensation claim from a medical negligence solicitor.
Accident and Emergency claims: Expert medical negligence advice
A&E departments at hospital are busy and hospital staff can make mistakes when making medical decisions or during treatment. These errors may lead to a patient suffering life-changing injury or dying unexpectedly whilst accessing care in the NHS. If you or someone close to you has suffered because of poor care at A&E, you might have a claim for compensation.
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We work on a no win, no fee basis, so there’s no need to worry about costs. Plus, our specialist solicitors provide an initial free assessment of your claim.
Examples of A&E medical negligence claims
A&E claims normally involve one or more of the following:
- not taking a proper history from you or giving the history sufficient clinical importance
- not examining you properly
- missing signs of deterioration
- failure to investigate - not ordering the correct tests or investigations (e.g. X-rays, scans and blood tests)
- mistakes interpreting test results and scans
- incorrectly diagnosing your condition or not diagnosing it quickly enough
-
missed diagnosis of serious conditions, for example:
- sepsis;
- gastro-intestinal conditions such as ischaemic, perforated or obstructed bowel;
- heart attack;
- aortic dissection or abdominal aortic aneurysm;
- brain injury such as stroke; bleeding in the brain (brain haemorrhage)
- meningitis
- Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE);
- Spinal conditions, such as traumatic spinal cord injury, tumour, haematoma, absence and cauda equina syndrome.
- missed fractures, such as fractures of the shoulder and elbow, wrist and hand; face; or hip, knee or foot and ankle
- giving you the wrong treatment (or no treatment), or wrong medication
- delayed management and treatment, including speciality reviews and missed therapeutic options
- failure to refer you to a different hospital department to be treated, which would be more appropriate
- hospital acquired pressure ulcers, such as sacrum, buttock, heel, shoulder, scrotum, or calf sores
- falls in or around the Emergency Department
- not admitting you, sending you home and not letting you know you should come back to A&E if things don’t improve; this is known as ‘safety net advice’
How a compensation claim can help
A compensation claim can provide security and stability for the future. For example, compensation funds could relieve a stressful situation if you are unable to work because of your injury. The funds could also be used to finance your care requirements, if needed.
We’re here to help
Come in for a free, confidential, no obligation chat, or fill out our enquiry form and we will let you know how we can help. We can also visit you at your home if you wish.
Our medical negligence lawyers are based in:
- Cambridgeshire: Cambridge
- Essex: Brentwood, Chelmsford and Saffron Walden
- Hertfordshire: Bishop's Stortford and Royston
But we can help you wherever you are in England and Wales.
Accident & Emergency claims FAQs
Doctors and nurses within A&E departments are working in extremely pressurised environments and are required to treat patients at speed and in a safe manner. The law states that junior doctors are judged to the same standard as their more experienced colleagues, even though many junior staff will be on a steep learning curve.
A&E doctors and nurses are often not expected to decide upon a definite diagnosis since an ailment could be representative of a vast number of conditions. However, they are expected to place the patient on the correct pathway which will eventually lead to the correct diagnosis. A&E doctors and nurses are also expected to triage patients correctly so that the most urgent cases are addressed first.
Some of the most common injuries from negligent diagnosis and treatment within A&E departments are:
· Fractures
· Meningitis
· Aortic aneurysm
· Cauda Equina Syndrome - i.e. damage caused to the bundle of nerves below the end of the spinal cord.
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