Due to a medical misdiagnosis that led to a burst appendix, one teenager from Somerset recently won £28,000 in personal injury compensation in a medical negligence case.
In a recent article published in the Bristol Evening Post, accident claim specialists are reporting that Weston-super-Mare native, Thomas Roberts, had been just eleven years old when he had been rushed to the Bristol Children’s Hospital, after reporting acute stomach pain. Thomas had been discharged from the hospital after being diagnosed with both gastroenteritis and a urinary tract infection and given pain killers, the London High Court was told at trial.
Unfortunately Thomas’ condition worsened overnight. The next day he had to endure an emergency surgical procedure for his burst appendix after being rushed to the Weston General Hospital.
Thomas’ personal injury lawyers argued that if the Bristol Children’s Hospital’s medical staff had diagnosed his acute appendicitis correctly, then the now seventeen-year-old could have avoided all of the potentially life-threatening complications that his burst appendix had brought on simply by operating upon him that very evening.
The NHS Foundation Trust for University Hospitals Bristol refused to admit liability for the incident. However the NHS Trust did agree to an out of court personal injury compensation settlement with Thomas’ legal team, with a £28,750 damages award.
The seventeen year old, who is a keen swimmer, has since recovered completely from the ordeal, yet still has to suffer some residual embarrassment due to the abdominal scar left behind by the surgery and its high visibility.