Archives

Most of us find that when attending our GP surgery, we often see a number of different GPs and medical practitioners and have no continuity of care.

Often this is frustrating and means that we have to repeat our medical history on every visit and we never build up a relationship with our GP. But sometimes this problem can lead to a misdiagnosis when GPs are unfamiliar with the patient’s past medical history.

A case has come to light recently whereby the failure of a GP to properly read and understand the patient’s medical records and history has led to a misdiagnosis and a failure to spot a condition, which without immediate treatment at the onset of symptoms, leaves the sufferer with very serious permanent symptoms.
Read More

The majority of you reading this blog will have probably already passed your driving test and most likely would hate to have to put through the whole rigmarole ever again! Nerve racking, stressful, and expensive are just a few memories that spring to my mind when thinking back! It’s true what they say as well…you never really know how to drive until you’ve passed your test and you’re out on the roads alone.

What do you make of this then?

I read recently on the Daily Mails website that the Driving Standards Agency has ‘revamped’ the driving test once again and this will be coming in to place from 4^th October this year.
Read More

The recent case of Dr. Daniel Ubani is still fresh in many people’s minds. To recap, he was a German locum GP who inadvertently injected a 70 year old patient with over ten times the safe amount of diamorphine; a strong painkiller, resulting in their death. Not so well known is the fact that he is still practicing medicine in Germany, despite the seemingly clear case of negligence. Dr Ubani avoided a manslaughter prosecution in the UK as he had already been convicted in a German court of law, finding him guilty of death by negligence and giving him a nine-month suspended sentence.

In a similar case, a German surgeon, Werner Kolb, operated on a 92 year old lady during a routine hip procedure. He had been employed by the Lincolnshire Trust as holiday cover for one of their surgeons. As European law stipulates that Medical qualifications must be accepted at face value, no further checks were performed. During the operation, he strayed into a danger area and severed an artery, causing the patient to lose over 2 litres of blood. The patient was left bed bound by the operation and subsequently died of pneumonia.
Read More

Claiming for compensation – the idea is to put the victim in a position they were in before they had the accident. Obviously we cannot take away the injuries and the suffering – no one ever can – but we can compensate for the suffering and inconvenience with a monetary payout.

But there are certain losses that can, and should, always be recovered; or certain things that can be done to compensate the victim as much as possible. I came across a story from the Daily Mirror that can certainly fit this bill.

According to the exclusive Daily Mirror report (source), the Ministry of Defence have refused to pay for a private operation for injured war hero Mark Ormrod who lost 3 limbs in the line of duty fighting for our country. The 26 year old marine nearly died after losing both of his legs and his right arm from a Taliban landmine blast whilst on patrol in Helmand, Afghanistan, on Christmas Eve 2007.
Read More

The Sale of Goods and Services Act 1982 – it’s an important piece of legislation there to protect us against dodgy deals and faulty products; and the regulations involved are ones that all manufacturers and providers of goods and services must abide by. Failing to do so can leave them liable for any suffering caused by their negligence in failing to adhere to the regulations to a sufficient standard.

Now I myself have had bad experiences in the past of poor services and inadequate products sold to me, and I am certain that the majority of you reading this have as well! In fact, we at The Injury Lawyers have been at the mercy of our telecommunications providers who have provided a far less than satisfactory service to us with countless errors over the past few months; and you’d think with them being probably the biggest British provider that they would provide the best service in the country!
Read More

And this is with no reference to a classic Soft Cell song; in fact, this story is of the 70’s-80’s tainted blood incident, leaving many with HIV and Hepatitis C through receiving ‘unclean’ blood during blood transfusion operations. And according to sources from the BBC,one man has just won a high court battle challenging the level of compensation awarded to the victims of such tragedies (source)

Thirsty six year old Andrew March has criticised the governments miss-matched payout scheme in its refusal to match higher payouts in the Republic of Ireland. In the mid 80’s nearly 5000 people were exposed to Hepatitis C from blood transfusions before the days of heat treating to kill off viruses; and more than 1200 contracted HIV as a result, and almost 2000 have died since. Many of the affected were haemophilia sufferers, who were given products to help their blood clot.

Mr March was one of the thousands who at the age of 9 contracted the virus from ‘tainted’ blood. Has been commended by the judge for his “tenacity” in brining the case, and Lord Morris of Manchester, also President of the Haemophilia Society has stated that it is an “historic decision, most warmly welcomed by the haemophilia community”.
Read More

Well roads certainly seem to be a hot topic for us at The Injury Lawyers at the moment; or at least when it comes to the topics of my articles of late. Pot holes are plenty, and in the midst of a major economical crisis we may set to be raged at our roads for the coming months! And according to sources from Sky News, we motorists are angry at the conditions of Britain’s roads at the moment, and its having one heck of a knock on effect… (Sky News Source).

In the midst of the upcoming election, motorists have reportedly set the stage for politicians to take the condition of our roads more seriously; and it could affect the way we place our votes! Up to 77% or motorists are “particularly angered” at the current damage on UK roads, namely potholes littering our highways! This has apparently completely overshadowed other transport concerns such as petrol prices, and is therefore leading politicians to look closer at what the voters are looking for when it comes to improving our transit systems!
Read More

Now I’ve written a few blogs before on compensation for our brave war heroes injured in the line of duty; I myself have the maximum of respect for our armed forces. And I have previously covered claims against the council; with the most recent one being my cover of the Scams, Claims and Compensation Games program that took an in depth look in to the subject. But I never thought I’d ever cover both subjects in one blog… but according to sources form the Daily Mail, this next story falls in to both categories.

Daily Mail has covered the story of the war hero who survived Taliban attacks abroad, only to tragically killed due to a pot hole in the road (source). Its certainly a sad story to hear; Twenty nine year old Captain Jonathan Allen reportedly suffered major head injuries as he swerved to avoid a puddle filled pot hole at the side of the road whilst riding his bicycle, unfortunately in to the path of an articulated lorry. It is assumed that he allegedly did not see the pot hole until last minute, and the hole has been since filled in by the council just days after this tragic accident.
Read More

We all put our trust in the services of the NHS – when our lives depend on it, they’re the experts we count on to save our souls. So it’s disturbing to hear that, according to sources from the BBC, a leading expert has stated an investigation should take place into 25 hospitals for higher than normal death rates (source).

Leading health expert Professor Brian Jarman has questioned the reasons that a total of 4,600 more patients died in the trusts in question in 2007-08 (with each of the trusts in question having at least 150 more deaths than expected in the year!) than would normally be expected. He also advised that a higher than normal death rate does not necessarily mean the hospital was doing anything wrong, but it could help to identify “wider problems” .
Read More

OK – so its another article on a few road traffic stories again – but as I have said before, they are the most common type of accident we specialist Injury Lawyers represent injured claimants for. And as a little warning for you, we are expecting the weather to worsen this week (and there was me thinking it was getting better), according to sources from the Mirror (source).

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning, with the worse hit areas expected to be in the North East and the Scottish Borders. Just this morning I myself was caught up in traffic with the M1 at a standstill; assumable due to an accident, or in some way relating to the weather. So take extra care on the roads I the coming days!

So, a couple of high profile instances in the news recently. According to sources from the BBC, football legend Paul Gasgoine has been formally charged with driving under the influence of alcohol; an act which I am sure you are all aware is a serious offence carrying hefty penalties. He has also been charged with driving without insurance and without a license (source).
Read More