Our client has won a substantial settlement after a spinal cord tumour was misdiagnosed for over a year.
Our client, then aged 13, suffered from wrongly-diagnosed hip pains for over 18 months and was left to deteriorate as hospital staff watched a football match. The client was eventually diagnosed with a spinal cord tumour in April 2006, and then had to wait nearly two months before the tumour was removed.
The client’s mother instructed Julia Cotterill, solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, to investigate a claim against Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust.
Clinical negligence expert Julia Cotterill investigated the medical mistakes which caused our client to endure excruciating pain for far longer than she should have.
Our client’s mother was concerned that the tumour was only diagnosed after doctors attributed her pain to growing pains and Chronic Idiopathic Pain Syndrome, a psychological condition, and believed the doctors did not take her daughter’s pain seriously.
Clinical negligence expert, Julia Cotterill at Irwin Mitchell, said: "The way in which our client and family were treated is totally inexcusable. Had the mistakes, including incorrect entries on medical records which led doctors to believe my client had undergone a MRI scan on the spine, not occurred then my client may have been saved from months of agony.
"No amount of compensation will ever take away the stress and pain which my client and parents endured for nearly two years, but it’s extremely important to the family that justice is done and that lessons are learnt to prevent any other children from going through the same suffering which their daughter had to face."
Our client’s mother said: “Thankfully, our daughter appears to have made a good recovery, but it has taken so much longer than it should have taken. She is a very brave girl and we are very proud that she managed to achieve excellent exam results despite her ordeal and is now planning to become a doctor herself.”
If you or a loved one has suffered due to a delayed or misdiagnosed medical condition, our medical negligence solicitors could help you claim compensation. See our Medical Misdiagnosis Claims page for more information.
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