£30,000 obtained for family of lady whose partial foot amputation should have been avoidable

Posted 10/06/2014

Julie Crossley, a medical injury specialist at Ashtons Legal, has obtained a settlement of £30,000 for the family of Mrs C, who lived in Cornwall. Mrs C developed a serious foot infection while recuperating from surgery to her leg. This was not referred for specialist treatment sufficiently quickly by her local GP practice, and the infection progressed to a point where her only option was to have two of her toes and a section of her foot amputated. Sadly, Mrs C later went on to develop sepsis and suffered a fatal heart attack, although a link has not been established between this and the earlier infection.

Julie Crossley comments: “Failing to make an appropriately early diagnosis, and recommending specialist treatment where this is required, is one of the most common problems we see. Unfortunately it is not just linked to one area of medicine but applies equally to instances such as this where the fault lies with the local GP, through to follow up hospital appointments being delayed, test results overlooked and a range of other failures in the system which result in an unacceptable level of patient care.”