We acted for a client following the death of her husband whilst an inpatient at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. Her husband (aged 71) had been admitted to the hospital for a laparoscopic right hemi-colectomy. Following that surgery, in December 2011, he was transferred to ICU. There was then a failure to monitor him appropriately, and he suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of an internal bleed to the duodenal ulcer.
It was our case that the bleeding should have been detected with competent management and treated with blood transfusion before the cause of the bleeding was found and treated. If this had happened, we believe that her husband would have survived.
The Health Service Ombudsman looked into what happened at the hospital and, in their report, highlighted a number of “service failures” in how the deceased had been treated. A letter of claim was submitted on behalf of our client to the Hospital Trust and they accepted liability for his death. Shortly afterwards, we were able to negotiate a settlement on her behalf, which included a claim for loss of financial dependency (as a consequence of his death, her state pension would now be less).
S. J. Edney solicitors obtained compensation of £41,250 for this client during 2014