O’Reilly Stewart recently obtained a settlement of £150,000 on behalf of the estate of our client who sadly passed away during the course of his medical negligence claim. The case related to substandard treatment provided by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust. Dionne Darragh dealt with the matter.
Our client originally presented with chest pain in May 2019. Following investigations, our client was advised in February 2020 that the CT scan was reassuring. In January 2021, our client presented again with shortness of breath and weight loss. A diagnosis of advanced lung cancer was subsequently made. Sadly, our client passed away shortly after his diagnosis.
We were instructed to investigate the standard of care received and whether the diagnosis of cancer should have been made at an earlier stage. We obtained copies of our client’s clinical records and instructed independent Oncology, Radiology and respiratory physician experts to prepare a number of reports in our client’s case. It was the experts’ opinion that the Defendant failed to correctly interpret the CT in May 2019 and failed to recognise and report the pulmonary nodule on our client’s lung. As a consequence, there was a delay in diagnosis and intervention of our client’s lung cancer. With earlier recognition and management of the nodule, our client’s case was that he would have, on the balance of probabilities, received curative surgery and treatment.
Whilst it was necessary to issue High Court proceedings in order to progress the case, the Trust accepted liability and damages were agreed in the sum of £150,000.
Commenting on the settlement of the case, our client’s family said: “When we first initiated our case, we were a family of five. By conclusion we were a family of four. Dionne & the team within O’Reilly Stewart guided us through each step of our case, in a sensitive, professional manner & and made a very difficult and frustrating time a little easier. We will be forever thankful.”
