What to do?

[Hriverson]

As most of you know I had my lap over 2 weeks ago where they found a serious infection and a lot of fluid due to a cyst that never drained years ago. I was put on routine antibiotics for 2 weeks and was told i would be contacted with the antibiotics that will 100% make me better. The pain hasn't lessoned atall- possibly worse, but I assumed the lack of contact from hospital meant I was on the correct ones. It was only when I booked a last min GP appointment I found out theyd actually collected the fluid in the wrong container and it has hence been destroyed. Previously i was suspected to have adhesions or endo because they said my womb was 'stuck' to my pelvic wall. There was no mention of this after my op however and the doctor who saw me when I was subsequently sent to a&e said she could see i had a serious infection still however they dont know how to get rid of it because they dont have my results which means i may have to have the lap all over again just to see whats wrong! I feel like its one thing after another and I'm so annoyed that they dont seem to know whats going on/dont tell me. What I wanted to know is that do you think this is grounds for a complaint? (I dont want to be one of those people however because of this mistake i have missed weeks of uni, months of work and im thinking maybe a complaint would kick them into really helping me) And how do you think the best way of explaining everything to a doctor is? I always forget the things i need to say and want to say that everyone says they suspected endo, and my womb was stuck so what is going on?! I'm so confused, has anyone had any problems like this?

[Impatient]

I wouldn't file any complaint till you are through this episode. Keep notes on what has happened, who said what and when, and concentrate on getting well. If needs be, do have a new procedure to identify the bug. it is critical to know what the infection is caused by and the lab can also pinpoint which of the many antibiotics is most likely to be able to attack it thoroughly and which of the drugs will be useless because the bugs are drug resistant. It could save you weeks and weeks of repeatedly trying different antibiotics hoping eventually to find the one that works.

You do have cause for complaining but not yet. Wait to see how things develop from now on. Contacting PALS at the local hospital may help you get quicker appointments on the grounds that you have been mishandled previously and they lost your sample and caused you unnecessary suffering as a result.

But for any legal claims - wait to get past all of this and have a complete overall picture of lost earnings, suffering, costs of wasted prescriptions etc. If you do want to go down that road.

The claim needs to be complete - so can only be done after all this is over, otherwise you are just guessing at projected losses and your claim is open to being challenged.

It won't help you get the treatment you need now to be taking legal action against the very people you need to help you get better, so deal with the health issues first and foremost, then once you are better, you can take your evidence to a legal team to discuss it with them and see whether they think it worth pursuing a claim.