Failures to act on test results

We have acted in a number of cases where administrative errors and oversights have resulted in delays in diagnosing and treating patients, some with tragic consequences.

Our solicitors represented a client who attended his GP with a suspected malignant melanoma, for which the GP correctly referred him. The test results confirmed the melanoma, but the results were misfiled when they reached the GP's surgery. As a result, the client heard nothing further and assumed all to be well. Only on attending his GP a year later did the GP question the test results and establish that a malignant melanoma had been identified and left untreated in the meantime, resulting in the cancer spreading and leading ultimately to our client's tragic death.

In a different case, a 56 year old man attended his GP suffering mid- and lower back pain. The GP arranged various blood tests and referred our client for physiotherapy. The blood tests were abnormal, but the GP failed to act on them and to refer our client to a rheumatologist. The delay this caused resulted in the spread of the tuberculosis so that our client developed tuberculosis meningitis, multiple spinal abscesses and hydrocephalus, causing loss of power in his legs and arms, paralysis of his bladder and bowel, intellectual and memory impairment and impotence. He is wheelchair-bound and requires assistance with all his transfers. Recurrent urinary infections led him to contract septicaemia. We settled his claim for £2.75 million.

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