‘Luke’, 22

 Bryony Doyle, a specialist medical negligence solicitor at JMW, represented ‘Luke’ in a legal battle following keyhole surgery that resulted in him suffering a perforated bladder. The error led to Luke requiring additional surgery which left him with further scarring and a prolonged recovery. Bryony helped Luke to challenge the hospital’s failures and was successful in obtaining £13,000 in compensation for him.

Perforated bladder

Luke underwent keyhole surgery to remove his appendix. Following his operation, Luke experienced high levels of abdominal pain and did not pass urine for several hours. He underwent a bladder scan which revealed that he was retaining urine and needed to be fitted with a catheter (a tube inserted into the bladder to pass urine).

Luke’s catheter was removed the following day but he was still unable to empty his bladder and was sent for an ultrasound scan of his abdomen. It transpired that Luke’s bladder had been pierced during his keyhole surgery by one of the surgical port instruments and he required another operation to repair the damaged caused by the blunder.

Although Luke has recovered from his surgeries, he has been left with further scarring and had a longer recovery process.

Successful medical negligence claim

Luke suspected that there had been an error during his keyhole surgery and was concerned that this led to him needing another operation under general anaesthetic, which could have been avoided. He was put in touch with the specialist medical negligence team at JMW and his case was taken on by Bryony Doyle.

Although liability was denied by the trust, Bryony was able to challenge this and claimed that with appropriate care, Luke’s bladder would have been seen during keyhole surgery and his injury would have been avoided. The trust agreed to pay Luke £13,000 for his pain, suffering and prolonged recovery.