Patient seeks

Posted 03/11/2010

A man is seeking £14 million in clinical negligence compensation after his attempt to donate a kidney to his father was botched by a surgeon.

The donor, known only as XYZ, gave his right kidney to his father, but the medic at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth badly damaged the remaining organ, causing it to fail. XYZ then needed a kidney donation himself, which he got from his sister.

He now fears that his body will reject his new kidney or he will fall victim to an infection, both of which could cause him to die.

XYZ is seeking £14 million in clinical negligence compensation from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, which has now admitted liability.

At a High Court hearing, the judge heard the surgeon in question – who is being investigated by the General Medical Council – was negligent and reckless.

Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, who heads the Ashtons Legal clinical negligence team, adds: “This is a very sad case. It will be interesting to see what the GMC do with this referral. It would appear that some kind of retraining or intervention would protect the public from future accidents and the NHS from claims of this magnitude. Nothing of course will bring this patient back his health.”