Call For Review As Hospital Failing Cause 24-Year-Old to Lose Sight in Right Eye
14/12/2010
Medical negligence solicitors at a leading law firm have called for a full-scale review after a Worcestershire woman was left partially blind as a hospital failed for four days to refer her for urgent specialist treatment.
Medical law experts from Irwin Mitchell are demanding a full-scale review of procedures after a damning internal report by the Hospital’s own Trust admitted that the incident happened due to “poor care by inappropriate staff, who were taking decisions way out of their depth and remit.”
Claire Holmes, 24, from Hagley near Stourbridge lost 95% of the vision from her right eye after a series of lapses at Kidderminster Hospital meant that a serious eye condition was not treated quickly enough. Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust has since conceded that earlier antibiotic treatment would have saved her sight.
Ms Holmes, who at the time regularly wore contact lenses, began suffering pain in her right eye on 12th September 2008.
Over the following days, she sought help from Kidderminster Hospital’s Minor Injuries Unit on four separate occasions. During her initial examination on 13th September, a nurse told her she was suffering from a small scratch and prescribed eye ointment.
Ms Holmes sought further advice the following day after continuing to suffer from terrible pain but was simply told to continue using the ointment.
On 15th September Miss Holmes’ mother, increasingly worried by her daughter’s condition, took her back to the unit. A nurse briefly examined Claire and prescribed an alternative ointment with instructions to persevere with the treatment for a further 24 hours.
By the morning of 17th September, Miss Holmes was in agonising pain. She noticed a discharge from her right eye and she was no longer able to see out of it. Her father drove her back once more to the unit where she was finally seen by an ophthalmologist, who urgently referred her to a specialist surgeon at Birmingham Midland Eye Centre.
Surgeons there found that she had been suffering from an infective abscess of the cornea - a rare but recognised risk associated with wearing contact lenses. Despite the best efforts of clinicians, the infection had caused irreparable damage to her right eye, causing her to lose 95% of her vision in that eye.
Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust has now admitted liability and has fully accepted that, had Miss Holmes’ condition been diagnosed earlier, prompt antibiotic treatment would have saved her sight. Following an internal investigation, the Trust also admitted that the incident was not isolated and had occurred as a result of nurses taking decisions ‘beyond the training and skills they possessed.’
Medical Negligence Lawyer Calls For Lessons To Be Learned
Tim Deeming, a medical law expert with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors said: “Claire was let down extremely badly by her local hospital. Whilst this condition is rare, had proper notice been taken of her repeated complaints, this tragic outcome could have been completely avoided.
“On two separate occasions Claire’s eye was examined, not with an ophthalmology slit lamp, but with a pen torch which in itself would have made it virtually impossible to reach the correct diagnosis.
“I very much hope that lessons will be learned as a result although we have yet to hear from the Trust how it intends to make the necessary changes.”
Miss Holmes explained: “Even though I was in the most indescribable pain I believed the nurses who told me to let the treatment take its course and it was nothing serious.
“I put my trust in them, but as a result of their mistakes I now have to face the fact that I will be partially blind for the rest of my life. This not only puts huge strain on my left eye but means I have very limited spatial awareness. I cannot judge distance well and even simple things like pouring a glass of water can cause problems.
“I just hope that the hospital has learned lessons from what happened and that the Trust has retrained those responsible so that no-one else has to suffer in the future.”
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