Nick, aged 22

JMW, represented ‘Nick, ’a young man who suffered unnecessary distress, pain and further surgery after an operation to remove his appendix was performed negligently. JMW was successful in obtaining £21,000 for Nick to compensate him for his ordeal.

Negligent surgery

When Nick was initially diagnosed with appendicitis after becoming very unwell with symptoms including abdominal pain, vomiting and fever he was admitted to hospital for treatment. He underwent a laparoscopic appendectomy, an operation to remove the infected appendix, which initially appeared to have gone well. Nick was discharged was from hospital following and was not made aware of any complications.

However several years later Nick experienced a sudden onset of severe stomach pain and was admitted to hospital. After investigations being carried out he underwent emergency surgery which found 1.5 inches of the stump of his appendix had been left inside him during his previous operation to remove it. The stump had become infected which is why the symptoms of appendicitis had returned. The infected stump was removed successfully in the second surgery however Nick suffered a difficult recovery and was left with a scar on his stomach.

Nick has now made a full recovery however his recurrent appendicitis, abscess formation and the need for a major abdominal incision places him at risk of complications in the future.

Successful medical negligence case

Nick was dismayed that the original surgery had been done to such a poor standard and contacted the specialist medical negligence solicitors at JMW for advice. His case was taken on by clinical negligence solicitors at JMW who alleged that the hospital had failed to properly perform the original appendectomy and remove the whole of the appendix or at least leave only a residual stump of less than 5mm in length.

The claim was successful and JMW obtained £21,000 in compensation for Nick.