Amanda, 37, Northumberland

Amanda was flying back from a holiday abroad when she suddenly developed severe abdominal pain with diarrhoea and vomiting.  She thought she was suffering from gastroenteritis but after a day or so her symptoms worsened and she took herself to the local out-of-hours clinic.

She was initially sent home but then went to her local A+E Department later that morning.  The doctors recorded that she was in severe pain and prescribed her strong painkillers but she was discharged without diagnosis and without a review of her pain levels. 

She consulted two GPs over the next week who failed to refer her back to hospital.  8 days following her initial presentation to A+E Amanda was finally admitted to hospital and diagnosed with appendicitis.

As a result of the delay in diagnosis an abscess had burst within her appendix.  This compounded the impact of the delay, and when she finally received surgery the nursing team failed to remove a part of the surgical drain which had been inserted during surgery.

As a result of the Defendant’s negligence Amanda was left with severe, permanent abdominal pain and is unlikely to be able to conceive naturally.

Steven Brown successfully settled the case and Amanda received a total of £375,000.00 compensation.