Brain injury compensation news -
16/10/2009

Misdiagnosis results in £4 million settlement

Brain injury compensation of more than £4 million has been awarded to a woman who has been left with a seriously impaired short-term memory as a result of a catastrophic misdiagnosis.

Although the woman had suffered a brain haemorrhage and collapsed, doctors told her that she was only suffering from a virus.

Two weeks, she suffered a second, more serious haemorrhage, and was taken to Newcastle General Hospital for emergency surgery.

The woman's 47-year-old husband described the brain injury compensation settlement as "a huge relief" but voiced his frustration at the unwillingness of the defendants to settle the medical negligence claim at an earlier date.

The woman, a former paediatric anaesthetic nurse, now only has a ten-minute memory. This has had some tragic consequences. Her husband explained: "Once we spent 12 hours in Paris visiting all the sights. But when we were driving out of the centre, less than 15 minutes after we had left, she said, 'Wouldn't it be a nice idea if we visited Paris?"

He also said that he had to break the news of her father's death "10 or 15 times over". "It was the saddest thing I have had to do in my whole life," he said.

The brain injury compensation action was taken against Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust and succeeded with assistance of a leading no win, no fee solicitor.