31st July 2021 – In August 2015, our client’s brother, Mr H, was feeling generally unwell and had swollen testes. He saw the GP at his local surgery, Minster Medical Group, Sheerness, Kent and prostatitis was suspected.Mr H had a PSA test the score from which was high but the GP failed to refer him for prostate cancer investigations in the usual way. In addition, during the course of the second half of 2015, other GPs at the surgery failed to arrange a mandatory repeat PSA test after Mr H completed his course of antibiotics for suspected prostatitis.
Mr H was suffering from a highly aggressive form of prostate cancer and the missed opportunities for follow up meant that he was not diagnosed until September 2017 when the prostate cancer was very advanced. He received palliative care but sadly died at home on 23 rd June 2018. He died with the firm belief that he had been let down by his local GPs.
Mr H’s sister (Mrs P) shared this view and approached Fairweathers to investigate what happened. With the assistance of our GP and cancer experts, we looked into the events in the second half of 2015 and made a claim against the GP Surgery alleging that substandard care delayed Mr H’s treatment by more than twelve months and shortened his life by approximately ten months.
Unfortunately, there was a failure to cooperate with investigations conducted by the MDU and consideration was given to lodging a formal complaint at the GMC. However, this threat resulted in the MDU opening up settlement negotiations.
After a series of offers and counter offers, Mr H’s sister accepted £35,000 in compensation on behalf of her brother’s Estate.
Steve Evans the solicitor with conduct of this matter commented:- “Although unacceptable mistakes did not deny Mr H curative treatment, his life was shortened and he died without the peace of mind of knowing that he had received a proper standard of care. I am very pleased to have been able to find out what went wrong and help the surviving family achieve closure”.
Our client, Mrs P wrote: “Fairweathers solicitors have been fantastic at a time when I needed someone who understood. Stephen Evans was helpful, understanding, informative and kept me up to date every step of the way. He fought for justice for my late brother and won, getting me the answers I needed and made sure the people who let my brother down so badly were held to account.”
If you or your family need the assistance of an experienced team of Clinical Negligence Solicitors surrounding an inquest or civil claim then please do not hesitate to phone us free on 0800 999 5585, request a call back or submit your case details.