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This article was published on June 17th, 2016
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has upheld a claim by a man’s family that the hospital was at fault for not preventing a fall which resulted in him becoming a palliative patient.
The man was a patient at the University Hospital being treated for bowel cancer and a hernia and the PSHO partially upheld the claim that the Hospital failed in its duty of care to check the patients status and risk of falling. The fall was potentially preventable because, if the hospital had checked his lying and standing blood pressure regularly and reviewed his medication accordingly, the fall may have been prevented.
The claim was only partly upheld because the PHSO could not categorically say if these preventative measures would have DEFINITELY prevented it. They confirmed that, whilst the Hospital Trust responded well to the complaint and made changes to their policies, they did say that the patients family should have been given better visitation rights in the later stages of his care.
The Trust was ordered to pay the family £500 compensation.
Money is often no consolation for such a tragic incident but sadly medical negligence like this does sometimes happen and the compensation is invaluable when it comes to providing support to the injured party and their family. If you have been unfortunate enough to have experienced a traumatic experience in hospital then contact us now at Thorneycroft Solicitors today for a free no-obligation assessment of your case on 0800 1979 345 or complete our online enquiry form.
Our medical negligence solicitors are dedicated to maximising the compensation for medical negligence available on a no win – no fee basis.