Our client experienced a nine-month delay in the diagnosis of breast cancer by a hospital trust. Our clinical negligence solicitors were instructed to pursue a compensation claim against the hospital trust.
She needed to undergo chemotherapy and a mastectomy, which had a significant impact on her not only physically, but psychologically as well. The prolonged treatment was gruelling for our client and she had to face a reduced life expectancy. Due to the trauma of the treatment, our client delayed her return to work, which resulted in a loss of earnings. She later gave up her job and moved abroad – something that she had planned to do as she approached retirement, which highlights how seriously the ordeal had affected her.
Delays in cancer diagnosis cases are notoriously difficult due to legal causation (establishing whether the defendant’s conduct resulting in the problem). Due to this, the main focus of the investigation was whether the chemotherapy and mastectomy the client had to endure would have been avoided with an earlier diagnosis.
The claim for financial loss caused by the negligence was strenuously fought. The hospital trust demanded proof about our client’s decision to give up her job and move abroad, which could only be supported by her own evidence, which meant that she had to endure the stressful court room experience. Despite the evidential difficulties in the case, our clinical negligence solicitors managed to secure an out-of-court settlement of £175,000.
Aside from the complexities as to the cause of the issue, the formulation of our client’s losses needed some careful thought and independent verification. Our clinical negligence solicitors secured further factual witness statements and documentary evidence in support of our client’s intentions to move abroad. While no agreement was reached between the parties on this particular point, the resulting settlement was more than acceptable to our client.
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