How to deal with Misdiagnosis of Appendicitis

I would like to claim misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation for peritonitis caused by a delayed diagnosis of appendicitis. It took two trips to the emergency room before my condition was properly diagnosed.

It appears that a misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation claim may well be possible in your case, although this would need to be confirmed by a medical negligence solicitor after a thorough examination of your case.

An emergency room misdiagnosis is unfortunately common, despite the high level of care provided by doctors in the UK. Although a patient arriving at an emergency room displaying the classic symptoms of appendicitis may be correctly diagnosed, when symptoms are atypical, a misdiagnosis of appendicitis is more likely to occur. Since emergency rooms are frequently staffed by junior doctors, inexperience can play a part in any misdiagnosis. Emergency rooms are frequently implicated in misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation claims in the UK for this reason.

A claim for misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation will depend on a number of factors. Firstly, you must be able to demonstrate – with the help of a solicitor and medical experts - that a competent doctor would have been able to either recognise the symptoms of appendicitis and make the correct diagnosis or that, faced with your symptoms, medical tests would have been arranged to arrive at the correct diagnosis. If tests were arranged, and the results were misinterpreted - either due to inexperience or incompetence –misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation can also be claimed.

The success of a misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation claim will depend on whether the delay in diagnosis was responsible for a deterioration in the condition or further health problems being suffered. Appendicitis requires immediate surgical intervention to prevent rupture and, when a rupture occurs it can cause peritonitis – a highly serious health problem. Peritonitis can be easily prevented with an early appendicitis diagnosis.

The delay in the diagnosis of appendicitis appears to have caused you to suffer a more serious health problem as a result, and this could well be due to hospital medical negligence. If it can be proven that within the time limits  ‘on the balance of probability’ that this was the case, a claim for misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation should be possible. You should speak to a medical negligence solicitor as soon as possible to get a full assessment your claim, and to find out what you must do next in order to claim misdiagnosis of appendicitis compensation against the hospital.

Has your Doctor made a Misdiagnosis?

Can I claim doctor misdiagnosis compensation for a failure to diagnose pneumonia? I was hospitalised for 3 weeks with pneumonia which my doctor diagnosed as a heavy cold.

A claim for doctor misdiagnosis compensation can be made in the UK when a doctor has made an error in judgement which has caused a patient to come to harm as a direct result. However, an error in diagnosis must be deemed to be unreasonable under the circumstances, and that any competent doctor would have been able to correctly diagnose the condition or at least should have arranged further tests to be completed to allow a correct diagnosis to be made. When a doctor has not taken an appropriate course of action, and has failed in a duty of care to a patient, this is considered to be medical negligence and you are entitled to claim compensation for doctor misdiagnosis.

A failure to diagnose pneumonia is a serious error of judgement, but whether this amounts to medical negligence will depend upon the symptoms you had and described when you visited your doctor, and whether any doctor would have been expected to diagnose pneumonia under the circumstances. Pneumonia is a highly serious infection, and is one which doctors must be particularly attentive to. However, since colds and influenza can cause very similar symptoms a misdiagnosis may easily occur.

However, there are differences between these conditions which an attentive doctor should be able to spot, and these should raise concern and result in a doctor ordering a blood test or chest x-ray to confirm a diagnosis. Treatment of pneumonia is highly effective in the early stages, but when it is misdiagnosed and is allowed to progress, the condition can cause serious injury and may be fatal. 

Your claim for doctor misdiagnosis compensation may depend on the time between the initial misdiagnosis, and when and how you had the condition confirmed. If you returned to the same doctor the next day, and tests were arranged and your pneumonia was confirmed, the defence could argue that your condition had not deteriorated significantly in that time frame. If treatment would not have been any more effective had it had been started earlier or, if ‘on the balance of probabilities’ you would still have been hospitalised, a compensation claim for doctor misdiagnosis would be unlikely to be successful.

Doctor misdiagnosis compensation claims often depend on these factors, which is why it is vital that your case is assessed by a medical negligence solicitor. A solicitor would be able to advise you if your case involved medical negligence, and if doctor misdiagnosis compensation can be claimed.

How to deal with Epilepsy Misdiagnosis

Can I claim epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation for my daughter? She was misdiagnosed with epilepsy and has been on prescription drugs for over a year. I recently had her re-examined and the original epilepsy diagnosis was wrong.

Epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation claims have recently been covered extensively in the media due to the high number of epilepsy misdiagnoses in recent years. Due to the highly complex nature of epilepsy and the difficulty in obtaining a definitive diagnosis for the condition, many children are diagnosed with the condition when it is something else entirely which is causing the seizures. Since over 40 different types of epilepsy have been identified, and the symptoms, age of onset and test results will differ for each, arriving at an accurate epilepsy diagnosis may not be as straightforward as with other health conditions.

Unfortunately an epilepsy diagnosis is often made from just one seizure, which is rarely enough to enable an accurate diagnosis to be made. An epilepsy misdiagnosis can be particularly damaging for a child, as not only will this cause a delay in obtaining the right treatment, but the strength of the drugs used to control seizures means that there is high potential for children to be injured by epilepsy drugs.

Epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation can be claimed if it can be proven ‘on the balance of probabilities’ that a hospital made an error of judgement when diagnosing the condition, an epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation claim may be possible. This can only be confirmed by getting a second opinion, and another doctor will be required to testify that under the same circumstances, the symptoms should have led to a correct diagnosis being made or have resulted in further diagnostic tests being prescribed - such as an EEG or an MRI scan – which would have ensured a correct diagnosis of your daughter´s condition was made. If this was the case, an epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation claim should be possible and will stand a good chance of being successful.

However, as with any personal injury compensation claim, a claim for epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation will only be possible if your daughter has suffered an injury due to the diagnosis, has come to harm, or if the failed diagnosis of your daughters actual condition has caused it to deteriorate. The injury which is claimed for may be psychological in nature, provided that it is a quantifiable and recognised psychological injury.

It is strongly recommended that you contact a specialist medical negligence solicitor for legal advice about your case. Your eligibility to claim epilepsy misdiagnosis compensation will be assessed, and you will be advised on what you must do to file a claim for compensation as a litigation friend for your daughter.

What to do about Misdiagnosis of Asthma

How can I prove negligence in a claim for misdiagnosis of asthma compensation on behalf of my son?

Misdiagnosis of asthma compensation falls under the banner of medical negligence, and eligibility to claim misdiagnosis of asthma compensation differs from “standard” personal injury compensation claims. A standard personal injury compensation claim can be made if an injury has been caused by the negligence of a third party. In such cases, it is only necessary to prove that a third party has caused an accident and is therefore liable for your injuries.

A claim for misdiagnosis of asthma compensation will also need to demonstrate that there has been medical negligence; in this case that of a doctor or hospital. Although any misdiagnosis of a health condition could be due to medical negligence, this will need to be proven by medical experts. A misdiagnosis of a medical condition is not necessarily medical negligence.

Medical negligence claims also require a personal injury to have been suffered. No misdiagnosis of asthma compensation will be awarded if your son has not suffered health problems due to the misdiagnosis such as being prescribed the wrong medicine. A delay in treatment must have had a detrimental effect on your son´s health in order for a misdiagnosis of asthma compensation claim to be successful.

Medical experts need to be consulted to determine whether the doctor who misdiagnosed asthma should have been able to do so under the circumstances, after being presented with your son´s symptoms. If it can be determined that a competent and attentive doctor could have correctly identified the condition, and that a subsequent injury could have been prevented by an early diagnosis, then a claim for misdiagnosis of asthma compensation is likely to be successful.

We recommend that you speak to a medical negligence solicitor for advice. You will find out if a misdiagnosis of asthma compensation claim is possible, what you must do next, and a medical negligence solicitor will help you to determine – with the assistance of skilled medical experts – whether the misdiagnosis was due to medical negligence. If it can be proven ‘on the balance of probabilities’ that medical negligence was the cause, and that subsequent injuries could have been avoided, a claim for misdiagnosis of asthma compensation will be possible and will stand a good chance of success.

What to do about Failure to Recognise Meningitis

A failure to recognise meningitis symptoms for 48 hours after the birth of my daughter has left her with brain damage. Can I claim compensation from the hospital for medical negligence?

Meningitis can be treated effectively in most cases if the symptoms are diagnosed promptly and quick treatment is provided; however a failure to recognise meningitis can lead to serious and permanent injuries or even death. Children are most at risk of developing meningitis immediately after birth up until the age of 8 months. Failure to spot the signs of meningitis can be devastating and can leave a child with permanent brain damage.

In this instance, since meningitis appears to have been contracted in hospital under the care of qualified doctors and nurses, at face value it appears that you could be eligible to claim compensation to cover the injuries that your child has suffered. Classic symptoms of meningitis may not be present in babies; however an attentive doctor or nurse should be aware of the risks of meningitis, and should also have noticed that your daughter was distressed or pain - with the consequence that they would have arranged for tests to be conducted.

If the hospital admits that there was a delay in starting antibiotic treatment - and earlier treatment would have avoided the brain damage - then you could have a case for claiming failure to recognise meningitis compensation. A medical negligence solicitor would be able to assess your case, and would access your daughter´s medical records to determine with the assistance of a specialist medical professional whether the failure to diagnose meningitis was due to inattentiveness of doctors, medical procedure errors or negligence in their duty of care.

Expert doctors would be consulted and presented with the symptoms and circumstances during those 48 hours, and would decide whether the failure to recognise meningitis was acceptable given the nature of the symptoms. They will also present evidence as to whether any competent doctor should have spotted the signs earlier and started treatment. As with all failed diagnoses, there could be a number of mitigating factors which would make such a diagnosis unreasonable to expect.

Without a thorough investigation of your case, it is not possible to determine whether the failure to recognise meningitis can be classed as negligence of the hospital or doctors. Should it be proven that on the balance of probabilities that the failure to recognise meningitis was due to negligence, and that the negligence caused the injuries, you will be eligible to claim medical negligence compensation.