I was diagnosed with osteo arthritis about 3years ago in my hands and was told to ask for tests to see if I had R A at the hospital and was put on high dosage of methotrexate ad other meds for roughly 2 years of blood tests and DAWN check ups and they wanted to increase my meds via injection. Only to be told by a senior RA consultant that I did NOT need to be taking any RA drugs as all my tests were negative!! If I had not seen this consultant I would probably still be taking Methotrexate now!! how has this happened? Since then I have suffered pain in my right leg and had 2 spinal injections..AND have been diagnosed with kidney cancer and had 1 kidney completely removed this year! I am wondering if the effect of MX and other drugs could be the cause of my cancer because MX reduces the immune system??? should I complain about this? as medical negligence?
RA treatment advice: I was diagnosed with osteo... - NRAS
RA treatment advice
I’ve gone down the negliance route and it’s far from easy. I’ll not go into details but it’s not RA related in fact the RA houseman saved my life. I also have kidney failure and do understand but if you go that route it’ll be difficult and expensive. A Barrister will decide if you have a case and look’s at your medical records. I can’t say if your right because coincidence happen and often are unavoidable. Becuase even if linked it has to be proved and therein is the rub. If a mistake has happened it still might not be one that anyone is actually liable for. Look up NHS Consolidation Fund first.
thanks
Do you have your serious incident report? and have you written to hospital asking questions. And in fact you can have RA and it doesn't show in blood so its interpretation and thats an opinion based of probability not always facts. Only a Barrister will make that decision. And moreover even if they've admitted liability it still doesn't mean you'd get compensation as fees are taken out and that can run into many thousands of £'s. If you drive and own a car does your car insurance have legal advice cover? that might help but it has to be the year of the incident not now. My case is complex but I've an admission of culpable cause and had it before taking action. Its far from over even now and all claims are time sensitive so look that up too.
You will need to take advice from a legal firm who practice in medical mal- pratice. It will be a very lengthy procedure & will also be very costly. So think very hard before you embark on such a venture.
It depends if your Rheumatology Consultant put you on it but new practice is to start meads early to get on top of RA quickly . So if you were having 3 monthly blood test ( metho and RA markers) that would have picked up changes to liver etc . Some people with RA it does take a long time to get a positive diagnosis .It's weird as RA and osteo dont not clinically present the same
I would think very carefully before proceeding. My daughter works in medical negligence, and it is both lengthy and expensive. MTX is generally more associated with a slight increased risk of skin cancer, and non hogkins lymphoma. At higher doses it is used as a chemotherapy drug, and you would need to prove that the MTX caused the cancer, and show that it wasn’t coincidental. I think I’d be getting a second opinion first, as you can be negative for antibodies and raised markers, and still have RA. Have you had any imaging done to confirm this Consultant is correct? It wouldn’t be the first time, that a senior consultant was wrong. As someone else mentioned, OA & RA present very differently. OA gets worse with movement and improves with rest, RA gets better with movement and worse at rest. Stress itself can exacerbate pains, so you may find that pain increases through the stressful period of making your claim.
... and on top of all of the above, medical negligence has a 3 year limitation period in which to bring a claim.
I suspect that the defence will be that many people are on Mtx and other RA medication for a lot longer than two years and don't develop cancer.Being able to demonstrate that the cancer was caused by the Mtx will be extremely difficult and that's what your case would boil down to.
A friend of mine nearly died during an operation because a junior doctor did it she went down the negligence route. It was really hard on her... emotionally difficult. Yes she got some money but not very much, new second hand car and a bit of a holiday. She's not sure if it was worth all the going to be examined by other doctors and meetings etc. Dragging up the whole trauma, she was traumatised by the experience, waking up in intensive care and couldn't work for six months.
Unfortunately some lawyers sell it as being easy to get compensation but it's a fight.
It sure is, I got an acquired kidney injury and an admission of culpable cause within a year. A serious incident report copy etc and it went to Sols. I actually just wanted an apology and to know how the mistake occurred. I did find out and in the process my action saved 9 others who didn’t know they had an issue. In my case a computer was wrongly programmed and a medical problem caused by a medication not reported until it was too late. It’s been very hard very hard even with proof so much so I turned down meetings with CE of hospital trust. I’m a tough cookie but it’s been a long hard journey and I’m experienced in courts so that was one advantage but throw that in too and I’m not sure I’d do it again.
Years ago one of my children was misdiagnosed and treated. I again just wanted it not to happen to anyone else, that and the way I was treated on the ward by staff was awful. When another child needed admission to the same ward, I had a panic attack.
