Medical Negligence Claim after Woman Claims “NHS Failed Her Entire Family”
27/05/2010
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation has admitted liability in a medical negligence claim after a North East woman's parents both died of cancer after the NHS 'failed her entire family'.
Mrs. Ravenscroft was left devastated when her mother, Juliette Bates, died of bowel cancer in 2004. Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust has admitted liability for failing to diagnose her cancer correctly and it is likely that if the right diagnosis had been made then it could have been treated successfully and Mrs. Bates would still be alive.
Due to the failure to diagnose the cancer, Mrs. Bates suffered for four years before dying in 2008 at which point her husband Robin launched a medical negligence claim to highlight the mistakes made in his wife’s medical care.
However, the admission of liability came too late for Mr. Bates who sadly died of lung cancer in January 2010 without knowing the outcome of the case.
Angela Kirtley, who is representing daughter Lisa Ravenscroft in her continued medical negligence claim, said the admission of liability from the Trust was a step in the right direction to getting a conclusion from the case.
Angela said: "Mrs Bates's case is very sad and has been extremely distressing for her family – they have been let down by the NHS on two counts, firstly in the way that Mrs Bates' illness was handled, and then their delay in providing an admission of liability and an apology from the Trust before he died."
Lisa Ravenscroft said that her family had been left devastated by the death of her parents and has continued the medical negligence claim in order to highlight the need for 'vastly improved hospital standards.'
Lisa said: "My mother not only died unnecessarily, but she endured four years of unimaginable pain and discomfort. She first noticed symptoms in 2000 and made repeated visits to hospital and to her GP but was repeatedly told nothing was wrong.
"Even as the years passed and her symptoms worsened – she couldn’t eat, lost weight and suffered severe cramps – she was simply discharged with no further investigations.
"At one point, even as late as 2006 shortly before the cancer was finally diagnosed, a Gastroenterologist dismissed her problems as constipation and suggested she tried to put on weight. I think to dismiss an elderly lady’s complaints out of hand like that showed a shocking lack of respect.
"The cancer diagnosis represented our worst fears but, when it came, was still a huge shock – it was the effect it had on my father that was possibly most heartbreaking."
"It left him utterly shattered and, following his own diagnosis with lung cancer in 2007, he became depressed. His own condition deteriorated rapidly and although he fought with the very last of his energy to see the NHS Trust own up its mistakes, the admission came too late for him, too."
Angela said that the main basis of the medical negligence claim focused on a barium enema, a medical procedure that examines the inside of the bowel, which was performed on Mrs. Bates in 2004. The enema is likely to have picked up any problems and it is claimed that the results were not correctly interpreted, leaving to a misdiagnosis for Mrs. Bates who was not correctly diagnosed until 2006.
She added: "Our expert evidence suggested that a large tumour was not picked up following the barium enema in August 2004. Had it been detected treatment would almost certainly have been successful and Mrs Bates would most probably have been alive today.
"Patient safety is a priority and the NHS must work to improve standards and reduce the number of errors made.
"These errors have devastating effects and it is extremely frustrating that many of them are preventable. Errors do happen but hospitals need to work to ensure that the number of mistakes decrease – not increase."
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