When Medical Test Results Are Not Properly Acted On
15th October 2013
People go through medical tests all the time. An optician might detect abnormally high pressure inside a patient’s eyes, a nurse might notice a patient has very high blood pressure, and unusual body responses might be noticed during a health check-up at the GP. When people have serious health problems, they can go through a barrage of different tests so their healthcare providers can determine exactly what is wrong and how they can successfully treat this.
And in the modern NHS, there are huge computer systems, online medical records that update in real time, diary and reminder systems, and a vast array of communication tools that practitioners can use to communicate with each other. Despite this, medical negligence claims still regularly occur when the results of medical tests are not properly stored, communicated or acted upon, with personal injury solicitors seeing cases where people have suffered massive injuries or have even died because of this clinical negligence.
So what injuries and health problems can arise when medical test results are not properly heeded? Medical negligence solicitors see shocking cases, and it is not hard to imagine that people could die unnecessarily if a test showing they could potentially have a fatal condition is ignored.
Medical Negligence Compensation Claims And Ignored Test Results
Recently, our personal injury solicitors read about a case in which an optician warned a woman’s optician noticed during a regular check-up that the patient’s eyes could potentially develop glaucoma. The optician told the woman’s GP about this, writing a clear letter that was logged in the surgery properly, but the GP never discussed this problem with the patient and did not perform follow-up tests or refer the woman to the hospital.
As a result, the woman developed acute glaucoma, which caused her to suffer psychological distress. While the victim contacted medical negligence solicitors and made a claim for clinical negligence compensation, she would have much preferred to have had the condition properly diagnosed and treated by the GP following the optician’s letter.
Gp Negligence Claims
More commonly, patients visit their GP to discuss a health complaint and are referred for additional tests. These tests results should then be promptly sent to the patient’s GP and the GP should discuss the results with the patient and take appropriate action. When there are delays in this process, the condition can easily spread or worsen and can even become untreatable. Even if the condition would have been terminal when the patient first visited the GP, the delays to diagnosis caused by a failure to heed test results can cut precious months or years off the patient’s life expectancy, or can cause them to become infirm unnecessarily early.
In these situations, Clearwater Solicitors can help the victim make a complaint and recover clinical negligence compensation. We are happy to guide anyone through the process of making a medical negligence claim and can give them the high-quality representation they need to succeed in their case.