Has anybody put in a claim for medical negligence?

[busylizzy1985]

I didn't realise for years that i had this condition but had previously been on the pill for 10 years, but for the last couple of years i knew something wasn't right.

I found the endometriosis uk site and with their help and information i diagnosed myself and took in my pain diary and questionnaire for my GP to look at. She completely dismissed my concerns and didn't listen to me when i asked to be referred and also told me that they don't do laparoscopies anymore.

Luckily i trusted my gut and changed surgeries who immediately gave me some medication and referred me, i have just had my first lap and told i have severe endo and may need IVF to conceive. If i had listened to her i wouldn't have received any treatment and i would have wasted precious time as i am 28 now and my fertility would have suffered even more.

It is disgusting that she is in this position and i worry for other patients which she may have neglected in her care.

I am going to put in a no win no fee claim with a solicitor i just wondered if anybody else had been in my situation?

[Hidden]

I have been treated badly aswel it taken from when i was 14 until i was 20 to be diagnosed im now nearly 22 , i was promised fertility treatment from my gynecologist who said i had to wait 6 months and then told me they don't do that there, i told her i wanted a family and she kept telling me about a hysterectomy and then went on to say ive got adenomyosis without actually seeing it, she has done 2 operations on me but she didn't actually say about adenomyosis then.

she is a complete waste of time!

i went to the doctors alot when i was younger and they told me i had poly cystic ovaries which was true it taken years from then to even realise i had endometriosis and now she says adenomyosis without a diagnosis like endometriosis aint enough to deal with!

[wp22]

I cant beleive it I was going to ask the exact same question today and was even going to word the question in the same words. Great minds think alike hey!! I was looking on internet today and have put a number in my phone for a no win no fee. My brief story is I was fobbed off for a few years by first GPand she even said when having smear you have a chronic disease but its nothing to worry about, you see I have just put 2 and 2 together and realised I have a huge nodule of endo protruding into my vagina, which was there about 3-4 years ago. Hence pain, sypmtoms etc still there. Was told few weeks ago after 3rd op its all gone. Wouldn.t mind but I have had internals, ct, mri scans, 3 ops, 2 TOP gyneas (what a joke) on the job and NO mention of the huge nodule. You cant miss it. Arnt they supposed to tell me what is wrong with me? So now I will have to wait (my turn) for the 3rd time to get seen. Went to gp today, she felt it said its coming from my bowel this hard lump but cannot put me through as urgent. I know she doesnt know what it is and it could be C for all she knows so to me a lump, C urgent. But not to her. Honestly if I wasnt going through this and someone had told me how they have been treated I honestly wouldnt believe them x

[AlexR]

i was constantly told i must have ibs, bad periods and pain was coming from an old back injury. I got made to feel stupid for constantly going to my doctors and saying about it. When i finally got referred to a gyno i got told theirs more than likely nothing wrong with you but will send you if you really want then when i went to see the gyno (horrible experience) he said do i get the pains when i eat certain foods going on the ibs route again. I had 3 internals done 2 by my doc 1 by the gyno, he said theirs inflamation they could feel but it'll be nothing. He did book me in for a lap said its up to me if a really feel i need it. Its only way he could confirm theirs nothing wrong to me. Well i had the op and when i came round he appeared and said well you did actually have something wrong with you. Youve got endo and removed as much as he could but if i want kids i need to start trying now not to wait im 28. He sounded so surprised and the full time ive been made to feel like an idiot for constantly going to the doc. One time i went begining of last year when i was actually swollen the doc said oh thats nothing to worry about just take a pain killer. Imagine if i had just left it and suffered and then my chances of kids would have gone. I feel sorry for the woman that do just put up with it because if doctors acting like this and making you feel stupid. x

[Cloudyrain]

This is a very emotive subject, but personally i wouldn't ever consider claiming from the NHS for this. It took me from 13 to 28 to be diagnosed and I lost so many years of my life, but what would getting a few grand in compo actually achieve. The money for the payout, plus the extorionate legal fees to the NHS if you won, would be enormous. Yes, I know that they sometimes have insurance, but that doesn't always cover them, and then the insurance is all paid out of the NHS main budget. The cost of claims to the NHS is awful, and I would rather they spent it on healthcare than paying solicitors.

I think it's very hard for GPs to be expected to be endo experts. They literally have one day of training about it. They have tens of thousands of conditions to be aware of, and then there is so little empahsis on endo within the NHS or NICE it's hardly surprising it takes so long. I think our energies would be better spent campaigning for increased awareness amongst GPs, improved training, and better emphasis amongst women on their gynaecological health.

Contact PALS or make a formal complaint, but I think legal action should be reserved for genuine clear cases of professional misconduct like removing the wrong kidney.

Everyone has a different story and needs to do what's right for them, but before following this route people really need to think "will it make me feel better?"

Good luck whatever you decide x x x

[littlemissvics in reply to Cloudyrain]

As a health professional i strongly believe in patient's sueing the NHS where it is applicable. Nobody expects GP's to be experts in all areas of medicine. That is why they referr patients to disciplines such as gynaecology and fertility.

What we do expect when we are referred is a level of expertise to deal promptly with diagnosis and treatment. Quite often in fertility this is sadly lacking. Patients from lower social classes are not able to articulate themselves adequately and often find themselves fobbed off with inaccurate diagnosis and treatment. It has taken the NHS 8 years to diagnose my partner with endometriosis and only after we asked for laparoscopy privately! They also found blocked fallopian tubes after 8 years of infertility issues.....no patency tests on the tubes until we went private.

This has probably cost my partner her fertility and hence we are sueing the organisation responsible for negligence and delayed diagnosis. As a couple we can't have children. If this had been dealt with correctly at the start things may have been very different. My advice is sue if you think you've got a case.

[Impatient]

I agree with cloudy on this issue.

We ALL struggle to get diagnosed, in my case a few months short of 30 years, Too late for IVF, too late for adoption.

30 years of hell by which time the extent of the endo was such that I lost an ovary and tube, the endo is already invaded bowel and bladder. Post op 17 months of loss of bladder control.

As if that wasn't enough I was then put on zoladex in hosp without my consent or knowledge and with no information about what it was or could do or would do to me.

The promise of a follow up with the surgeon didn't happen

and now I have been waiting 9 months for a scan on a burst cyst which I suspect has regrown.

This is sadly the way the NHS operates and as I cannot afford to go private it is the only system I have to rely on for my health care.

Countless times throughout my colourful medical history there have been misdiagnosis,

reactions to meds I shouldn't have been given (due to other issues) and yes I have considered in my angriest moments taking out a law suit, but doing so takes vast sums away from patient care. Patients just like me, waiting just like I do, for the right help.

The only one to ever make any money out of law suits are lawyers.

No amount of compo would give me back my heath, my life, my lifestyle, my fertility, my ability to work, my lost short term memory function.

With an average of 8 years to get diagnosed with endo, there's hardly a single endo lady out there that doesn't have good cause to be rightfully peed off at the medical profession.

We are all let down time and time again and we live in pain.Do I trust any doctor these day? Not really, they are humans and while some care passionately about their patients many don't give a stuff and are in it for the money and perks from Big Pharma.

But without that input from Big Pharma, we would be left with even fewer experts in surgery working for the NHS, and fewer GPs willing to work in local practise.

It's a personal choice if you want to go ahead and sue that is up to you,

but I did bring a law suit once against someone who owed me quite a bit of money, and it was one of the most stressful things I did, I felt as a matter of principal I had to do anything to get back money owed to me, but it took months and my stress levels went through the roof, and yes I did get my money back, but I was still out of pocket at the end of the experience.

In hind sight it wasn't worth it.

I am not saying that no one should sue the NHS, because certainly there are exceptional cases where for example children have been left permanently disabled and needing a life time of specalist carers and equipment, but for most patients and certainly most endo patiens, we have to realise that regardless of how long it takes to get diagnosed, and how many countless treatments we undergo, the fact remains we were born with a life long chronic illness which has no cure, whose cause is not understood by anyone in the medical profession and we do have to cope as best we can each and every day.

I too would rather have money spent on GPs, surgeons, all girls of school age being educated in endo, and with luck far more girls being pursuaded to choose gynacology as a career, rather than nursing or obstetrics or midwifery or sonography and the other medical professions women tend to gravitate towards.

Best of luck to you if you do decide to see a lawyer, you will need a lot of inner strength to deal with something like that. I'm not saying you shouldn't sue if you feel your case is strong enough too win, but it won't be a simple or straight forward process. The opposition legal team will fight tooth and nail and make your life miserable. It's what they are paid handsomely to do.

[wp22]

Truth is how many of us are being mis-diagnosed, not just the once but this runs into years.. It is about time these medical professionals, (I force myself to use that term) start to take us seriously.

I for one am well pi....d off with them, I was recently told by a 'specialist' it has all gone only to just realise myself he has left a huge 1.5 inch (yes inch) nodule on my rectum which is protruding into my vagina, and that is where my pain has been coming from the last 4 years. He was in that area as he took another rectal nodule out so how he didn't see or feel this one is beyond the joke. Now I have another battle on my hands trying to get another (3 in 12 months) operation to removed it because of his negligence and lack of care.

If we don't stand up to this (professionals) we and younger girls will just carry on and on being mis-diagnosed for years and while we are waiting for doctors to finally make up their minds and admit yes this is endo this disease is eating are bits up inside and worst of all making us infertile. YES it is about time they took a different attitude towards this devastating and life wrecking disease and help us gain back what is rightfully ours, our fertility, health, mental health and happiness.

Doesn't it make you mad that all these years of pain and suffering you have had which could have been dealt with long, long ago if gp,s and gyno's knew what they were doing? Its a disgrace and shame on them for making us suffer!!!!!

Its about time someone takes action because this will save so much suffering in the long run for girls yet to even be born. It is just all too frequent and common practice for women to suffer in silence, why should we?, as we suffer enough. X

[Cloudyrain]

I understand where you are coming from Wp, but personally I see a formal complaint, Pals, the local press, is better to get yourself heard than a court case. In all likelihood if it ended up in court any settlement you would receive would be awarded on a secrecy agreement without admittance of liability, and what good would that do to anyone?

Unfortunately you need to be aware that with such a claim you need to prove monetary loss to you caused by medical negligence, backed up by your own (expensive) expert, who you then need to prove is more qualified and experienced than the defendants expert.

I can appreciate where you are coming from, a lot of us have similar stories, but don't go into this path lightly as it can cause a lot more heart ache than it could potentially solve xxx