Pressure Sore Negligence Case Studies

• This was a medical negligence case on behalf of the estate of a gentleman who passed away aged 82 years.

Our Client was transferred to hospital for extensive treatment following a fall at a previous hospital. On admission to the hospital, it was noted that our Client’s skin was fully intact. As our Client was elderly, bedbound and unable to move, he was at a high risk of developing pressure sores, or bed sores as they are more commonly known.

Unfortunately, the nursing care provided to our Client was poor and our Client developed horrendous pressure sores. He lost a lot of weight and sadly also contracted the Clostrium Difficile (C.Diff) infection in hospital, causing terrible diarrhoea.

The pressure sores were only documented when our Client was discharged to a Nursing Home 6 months later. The staff at the Home were so horrified by our Client’s pressure sores that they took photographs as evidence and told our Client’s daughter that they had considered reporting the matter to the police. The pressure sores had turned black and caused large holes in our Client’s skin.

With appropriate nursing care, within just 3 weeks at the Nursing Home, the condition of our Client’s skin had improved dramatically. Our Client was fortunately able to enjoy the last few months of his life thanks to the high standard of care provided at the Nursing Home, for which our Client’s family are grateful.

We pursued a claim against the hospital for our Client’s pressure sores. No admissions of liability have been forthcoming from the Defendant, but our Client has recovered the sum of £25,000 by way of compensation.

Our Client’s daughter initially instructed another firm of Solicitors to act on her behalf but after reviewing the extensive medical records, these solicitors were of the opinion that the prospects of success were poor and they declined to continue acting. Despite this, we decided that we would like to form our own opinion on this matter and took the claim on.

Do you have a potential medical negligence claim?

Please contact us for advice if you feel you have suffered any form of negligent medical/dental treatment. We have a specialist team of solicitors who are always happy to help. At Quality Solicitors Oliver & Co, we are unique in that the head of our Clinical Negligence department, Linda Schermer, is a qualified doctor as well as a qualified solicitor. We therefore benefit from in-house medical knowledge and are able to get to grips with your claim and locate any areas of negligent care quickly.

Our solicitors deal with a wide variety of medical claims including missed/delayed diagnosis claims, orthopaedic injuries, drug dispensing errors and claims against GPs. Our Liz Fry also has extensive experience with claims against dentists and our Kerry Bateman has had great success in pursuing claims involving poor nursing care.

With the assistance of our paralegal Lisa Thomas and our team secretary Corinna Phillips, we tend to work on a team basis and pool our legal and medical knowledge to offer the best service to our clients.

If you would like advice on whether you have a potential clinical negligence claim or assistance with drafting a letter of complaint, please contact us on the number below. Please note that there are legal time limits in place for starting a claim for compensation, and our specialist clinical negligence solicitors will be able to advise you specifically on the facts of your own case.