Advice centre

Patient facing kidney transplant or lifelong dialysis makes a negligence claim against GPs and hospital following delayed referral to nephrology and failure to recognise her underlying renal condition. This case report looks at where clinicians went wrong, and explains how MPS managed to settle the case for a moderate sum that was substantially less than the original request.

The quality record-keeping of a GP member is key to the defence of this claim.

Baby T was eight weeks old when his mother brought him to his GP’s morning surgery. His mother had become increasingly concerned about his general irritability and frequent crying episodes, which lasted up to two hours. These had become apparent over the past three days, not settling with breast feeding.

Mr S was a 60-year-old lorry driver. He was overweight and smoked, and couldn’t walk far because he suffered with pain in his calves.

When Mrs C, a keen golfer in her early forties, began to experience constant pain in her lower back, she consulted a GP at her local surgery. Dr P took a history of slow onset of pain with restricted mobility. He did not examine her, but prescribed an NSAID and advised Mrs C to return in two weeks if there was no improvement.

Mr U has a hernia repair and is later diagnosed with lung cancer. He makes a claim against two surgeons involved, alleging it should have been identified sooner.

Dr Marika Davies, medicolegal consultant, looks at the recent case of GA v Greater Glasgow Health Board [2019] CSOH 31, where the death of a 77-year-old patient raised questions over where the liability for the negligence lay: the junior doctor or the consultant?