£21,250 obtained for patient who underwent unnecessary open heart surgery

Posted 26/08/2014

Ben Ward, a clinical negligence solicitor at Ashtons Legal, has successfully negotiated a settlement of £21,250 for a Mr T who underwent surgery at Papworth Hospital in 2006. He had undergone an open heart procedure to repair a valve. During surgery a central line was inserted into the jugular vein which was then not removed.

In 2013 Mr T started to suffer with symptoms of flushing. Investigations revealed that part of the line had been retained in his chest and showed a mass, which was later identified as a clot, on the right atrium of the heart. This required Mr T to require Warfarin and further open heart surgery, at Papworth Hospital, to remove the line.

An investigation was initially undertaken internally and in July 2014 Ben wrote to the Defendant Trust alleging that they had negligently:

• Failed to remove the line during and/or post-surgery
• Failed to identify the retained line despite it showing on two separate x-rays post-operatively.

The Trust, via the NHSLA, admitted the allegations and negotiations were successfully undertaken to achieve settlement by the end of August 2014.

Ben Ward comments that: “It is unusual to see such mistakes being made by hospitals that are leaders in the field for this type of surgery. This would be classed as a ‘Never Event’ (i.e. it should never happen) and it is always worrying for a patient whenever such a mistake happens to them. On this occasion it was down to human error on the part of the anaesthetists. The Trust admitted the mistake and now have procedures in place to protect other patients from suffering the same misfortune as my client.

When mistakes happen it is important that clinicians and hospitals do not bury their heads in the sand. All that we, as claimant lawyers, can ask for is that lessons are learnt and policies/training improved or implemented to protect future patients. On this occasion Papworth Hospital have done just that and should be applauded for their transparency and honesty throughout this process”.