£175,000 settlement obtained for man whose stomach was removed unnecessarily

Kate Smith, a medical negligence specialist at Ashtons Legal, has obtained a substantial settlement for Mr K, who found out approximately 20 years after undergoing surgery that his stomach did not need to be removed.

Mr K was experiencing stomach problems and went for tests at his local hospital.  As a result of a failure to examine and report accurately on his pathology samples and a biopsy at the outset, he was led to believe that he had stomach cancer.  He went on to have a gastrectomy operation, which inevitably changed his life.  He can no longer have a normal diet and, as a result, will probably not live as long as he would otherwise have done in addition to having to live with a range of unpleasant side effects.  It was not until almost 20 years later that he saw his medical notes and discovered that in fact he had suffered from a benign gastric ulcer which could have been treated without surgery.

Kate Smith comments: “It is quite unusual for medical negligence to be identified this long after the initial illness.  If Mr K hadn’t asked to see his medical records for another reason, he would probably never have known.  As a general rule, people have to claim for an injury within three years of it being incurred, but where the negligence was not known about at the time it occurred, or where the injured person lacks mental capacity, then this rule is not applied in the same way. Anyone who is suffering and is unsure whether they might have a valid claim should seek professional legal advice.”