Shoosmiths’ serious injury team has been instructed by patients of Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust (“the Trust”) who have suffered blindness and severe visual impairments because of delays following treatment.
Medical negligence specialist, Becca Horley, is investigating claims in relation to failures to provide proper follow-up treatment and appointments after glaucoma surgery. Serious incident reports from the Trust have advised that our clients were either meant to have appointments which would have identified issues following their surgery or have further surgery. However, due to system failures within the Trust, and subsequent human error in not identifying that our clients had missed vital appointments, they did not receive the appropriate standard of aftercare.
As a result of missing these critical appointments, our clients have suffered loss of vision and their lives have been devastated by the poor outcome. They require ongoing care and assistance with many aspects of their day-to-day lives.
As specialists in investigating complex medical negligence cases of this nature, we use our expertise to carefully review our client’s medical records to understand what went wrong, and how they are affected. We also take the time to hear our client’s side of the story and let them tell us in their own words about their experience and the impact of it on them.
We engage highly regarded medical experts to provide evidence to support the claim. For claims relating to loss of vision, we will instruct an expert in ophthalmology, who will use their extensive expertise to assess our client’s records, comment on the potential failings in care, i.e., what treatment should have taken place, and outline what this means for our client going forward.
Our serious injury team leaves no stone unturned in our pursuit of fair compensation for our client’s injuries. We understand claims of this type not only affect their vision, but also their mental health, and ability to care for themselves. This means that we may also turn to specialist psychiatric experts to help us understand the mental health impact of such a devastating injury. In addition, we will assess the future care needs of our client due to their loss of vision and strive to reach a settlement which will allow them to receive the ongoing care and assistance they require, whether that be a live-in carer, a new home adapted to accommodate their visual impairment, or cutting-edge technology to help them adjust to life without their vision.
Becca Horley comments on the bespoke service we provide to our clients:
“Our clients who have sadly lost their vision due to medical negligence are classed as ‘vulnerable witnesses’ in litigation because of the additional challenges they face. We visit them at home and explain all aspects of the claim carefully to ensure that they are happy with the contents of documentation and understand each stage of the process. We recognise that no claim is the same and we provide a highly personalised service to ensure that we support clients appropriately throughout their medical negligence claim.”
If you have undergone ophthalmic treatment at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust and are concerned that you did not receive the appropriate aftercare, contact us for a free and confidential discussion.
Disclaimer
This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is recommended that specific professional advice is sought before acting on any of the information given. © Shoosmiths LLP 2024
