Five figure payout in medical negligence claim after GP admits life threatening DVT went undetected
08/04/2010
A Walsall woman has received a five figure sum in compensation after an out of court settlement was agreed following her GP's admission that she had failed to detect a potentially fatal case of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).
Suzanne’s GP has admitted to failings in providing the correct care to her patient. Expert medical negligence solicitors from leading law firm Irwin Mitchell, who represented Suzanne, have spoken out saying that lessons should be learnt from the case to prevent future mistakes.
34-year-old Suzanne Badhams, who is a former staff trainer with the NHS, visited her GP on the 19th September 2006 after she began suffering from pain in her outer right calf.
During her visit to her GP Suzanne raised concerns over DVT, due to previous family history of the condition, but after a brief examination Suzanne was sent home with a diagnosis of muscle pain and a prescription of a support bandage and ibuprofen.
The DVT in Suzanne’s calf went undetected for 15 days which led to further complications and a life threatening blood clot in her lungs. Ms. Badhams returned to the surgery to see a different doctor and once again spoke out about her family history of DVT, the second doctor then carried out some blood tests which were reported as being “all clear” despite them showing an abnormality.
Suzanne recalls that her condition deteriorated, she said: “I felt dizzy and faint and couldn’t walk without my Dad’s help. When I went to the bathroom, suddenly I knew something was seriously wrong. I couldn’t even make it back to bed; I had to lie on the bathroom floor.”
Suzanne’s father called an ambulance and paramedics found that her blood pressure was seriously low before rushing her to A&E at Sandwell Hospital where further investigations found that Suzanne was suffering from a life threatening pulmonary embolism.
Doctors admitted her to the intensive care unit where she stayed for six days and Suzanne was told by doctors that she was lucky to have survived the embolism.
Suzanne’s GP, Dr Alakshendra Kushwaha, from Broadway Medical Centre in Walsall admitted liability and failing to care for her patient correctly and paid a substantial five figure sum to Ms. Badhams to compensate her for her suffering as a result of medical negligence. Broadway Medical Centre also agreed to change its procedures and the way it reviews and reports the results of blood tests to patients as a result of the case.
Suzanne said the whole event has had a severe impact on her life: “I know I’m lucky to be alive, but my life shouldn’t have been threatened in the first place. My whole life has been changed by this horrific experience.
“When I left hospital in October I had to self inject clot-busting drugs every day for two months. I am now on Warfarin and I have been told that I may need to keep taking this for the rest of my life. I’ve also been told that I have to wear compression stockings all the time.
“I don’t really like going out much anymore. It’s brought on sleep problems, flashbacks and nightmares and I have had to have a lot of time off work.”
Suzanne’s solicitor Caroline Stokes is a medical negligence expert from leading solicitors Irwin Mitchell and she said: “This was a fundamental error that could have ended in tragedy and clearly could have been avoided if the GP had acted appropriately.
“I am particularly concerned that, at the time, the surgery did not appear to have proper procedures in place for flagging up abnormal blood test results. Since this incident, the surgery has confirmed its intention to change procedures.
“Fortunately Suzanne is here to tell her story, but she is greatly concerned that her health reached such a critical stage without an accurate diagnosis and treatment being offered to her. She very much hopes that lessons have now been learned so that nothing like this will happen again.”
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