Bungay woman dies after GPs fail to diagnose brain haemorrhage

Posted 30/10/2012

A GPs’ practice in Bungay, Suffolk has admitted failing to diagnose a woman’s brain haemorrhage, from which she died within weeks. Her widower has now received an apology from the doctors involved and his medical injury lawyer, Sharon Allison from Ashtons Legal, has obtained a five figure settlement for him in respect of his legal claim for clinical negligence.  

In November 2008, Mrs Aley, 71, was shopping with her husband Brian when she complained of a sudden headache.  That afternoon she visited her GP who diagnosed a muscle spasm. During the following days the pain spread down her back and into her legs. She returned to the medical practice and saw another GP. He decided she had suffered an inflammation of the membrane around the brain and prescribed anti-inflammatories.

On 17 December Mrs Aley was once more taken ill whilst shopping. This time an ambulance was called and she was taken to the James Paget Hospital in Lowestoft where she was diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage. Unfortunately however, her condition deteriorated and she died three days later.

Sharon Allison explains: “Mrs Aley’s first headache in November was probably a ‘sentinel’ bleed, giving cause for concern that it might develop further. The proper course would have been to arrange a scan of her head to determine whether there was a problem. That might have saved her life. Unfortunately, by the time she was eventually taken into hospital a month later the situation had developed into a major haemorrhage, and it was too late to save her. Mr Aley is incensed at the way he feels the NHS has let down his wife, particularly since they had both spent their working lives in the NHS”.