Lee Grainger approached Pryers on behalf of his wife following negligent gall bladder surgery under her own employer (a hospital).
Negligent gall bladder surgery
Moira, a nurse, visited her GP complaining of abdominal pain. The GP suggested that she went for an MRI scan, which showed multiple gallstones.
In order to treat her gallstones, doctors admitted Moira for surgery. Unfortunately, the procedure did not go as planned. The surgeon accidentally caught her liver during surgery with the scalpel. Despite this, they sent Moira home, due to the belief from the surgeons that the cut had appeared very minor and would heal on its own. Little did Moira know, the surgeon had minimal experience with performing this procedure. Hence, she had received negligent gall bladder surgery.
For about two weeks, Moira managed to eat and drink without a problem and get back to her usual routine. However, one day, very suddenly, she felt a severe pain in her abdomen.
She returned to the hospital, where the doctors admitted her for a CT Scan. The scan appeared to show active bleeding of a haematoma near her gall bladder. Doctors decided to monitor her condition, but Moira began to deteriorate as well as frequently vomiting, and moaning in pain.
Lack of Surgical Treatment
Problems continued, with Moira’s abdomen becoming more and more swollen and the infection markers in her blood began increasing. Following six days in the hospital, the treating doctors underlined that she had an infected haematoma. In spite of this, they did not actively intervene and did not take her for any further scans to see why her abdomen had caused her so much pain.
Ten days after her hospital admission, her CRP began to decrease and she became more alert. Although this appeared as a positive sign, her temperature had started to run very high.
Lee said “she was incredibly emotional, scared and most of all in so much pain. The pain had been so bad that she talked about killing herself, and as her husband, it was difficult to hear something like that.”
Two days later, Moira was finally sent for another CT Scan. Doctors prescribed Moira with high dosage painkillers, but they did not appear to be easing the pain. To make matters worse, at midnight of the same day, she suddenly became unresponsive. Doctors attended her straight away, and they took her for emergency surgery.
During the surgery, they discovered faecal content in the entire abdominal cavity. Moira’s bowel had ruptured as a result of a large amount of bleeding into her abdominal cavity. She had been awake throughout the entire traumatic period, but eventually, her strength gave up.
Despite last-minute efforts, there was nothing further that could be done and Moira, tragically, died the following day.
How Pryers helped
Lee approached Pryers on behalf of his wife to make a medical negligence claim, believing his wife a victim of negligent gallbladder surgery.
Working with our medical experts, we proved that Moira should have been treated on day six of her hospital admission when she was clearly making no progress with just conservative management, had this happened she would have survived.
Eventually, the Trust admitted liability, and with negotiations, we managed to secure over £700,000 compensation for Lee.
He said, “losing my wife was devastating. She devoted her life to caring for others as a nurse. I know how hard they all work, so, when she was first admitted, we did not expect such a tragic outcome. I am certain that no-one meant to treat her poorly, but mistakes like these cannot be ignored.”
How we can help you
If you have suffered from negligent gall bladder surgery or any other form of hospital or surgery negligence, we could help you claim compensation and live more comfortably.
Contact us to make an enquiry, and our team will see if we could help you make a claim on a no win, no fee basis.
