Stroke Misdiagnosis Claims

How do I make a claim about a stroke

This is specialist work. It is important that your chosen law firm has the legal expertise and the medical knowledge to understand and appreciate what evidence is required and to interpret that evidence when it is obtained.

Your lawyers must also have relationships with the appropriate medical and other experts who can assess your immediate health needs and suggest what treatments you may urgently require. Their input will be absolutely crucial to your recovery and the success of your claim.

To succeed in a claim, you must be able to prove with the support of our experienced lawyers that you received sub-standard treatment, and we must be able to prove, on the balance of probabilities, that you suffered harm as a direct consequence of that sub-standard treatment.

Where a diagnosis was delayed, either by your GP or admitting hospital staff, we would need to be able to prove that the delay lead to you not receiving the appropriate treatment soon enough to prevent, or at least alleviate, the injuries you suffered.

If you feel you may have a case, call us for a free initial consultation. Our priority will always be the health and well-being of you and your family. We can give you the benefit of our experience in such claims as well as an objective assessment of the likely success of your claim.

If I have a case about a stroke

Establishing whether you have a case for making a stroke claim involves exactly the same investigation as any other claim for clinical negligence. Our expert lawyers need to show that there was a breach of the duty of care owed to you by the responsible healthcare staff in failing to provide the appropriate care to you.

The onus will be on you with the support of an experienced lawyer to prove that 'on the balance of probability' (i.e. greater than 50% likelihood) those failures were responsible for the injuries and actual physical harm you suffered.

Deciding if you have a case will also depend on the nature and severity of your injury, to what extent you recover and what the long term effect on your health and well-being may be. These are complex, lengthy and demanding cases in which the major concern will be rehabilitation and continuing medical care to aid your recovery and provide whatever support you and your family may need.

There are time limits within which you can claim so whatever your circumstances you should contact us as soon as is practicable. We can then give you free initial advice about whether a claim is possible and establish what additional treatments you may require to help you deal with the future, whatever your prognosis.

More about stroke claims

Because a stroke often strikes suddenly and unexpectedly, it can be a frightening experience for the person suffering it and their family. The main symptoms of stroke have been well publicised, using the mnemonic FAST: Face-Arms-Speech-Time.

The victim’s face may drop on one side, they may be unable to lift one or both arms, their speech may be slurred or garbled and if they show any of these symptoms, an ambulance should be called immediately. Treatment depends on the type of stroke suffered and which part of the brain was affected. 

For those suffering from an ischaemic stroke, clot-busting medications  may be used. It is vital that the doctor correctly diagnoses the type of stroke suffered since using this drug would be dangerous for patients suffering a hemorrhagic stroke.

The diagnosis of a stroke may be delayed or missed altogether because the symptoms could be attributed to other conditions such as a migraine or a simple headache. Any delay in diagnosis or failure to conduct an MRI scan would contravene National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and would be considered negligent.
Following the initial treatment, the process of rehabilitation begins. Getting the appropriate care in place and arranging rehabilitation to allow a stroke victim to regain some of their previous capabilities is an extremely important part of any stroke claim