Would you go the legal route?

J

john-e89

Lifer
A short history so bear with:

I'm due a cardiac ablation op in a months time for AF, atrial fibrillation, in short a racing, very shallow beating heart, it beats very quickly but does'nt have the normal deep correct da-dum beat, it just fires very erratically, very fast and very short shallow beats, something I've had now for 9 years, AF itself is not considered life threatening, however left untreated it can cause thickening of the top left chamber heart wall, which is not good, it can shorten the hearts life span, and also the shallow very fast heart beats are so rapid that they start to flick blood around the chambers which then form small clots which then travel round the body, up to the brain causing strokes.

So here's the thing: i first went to the doc's with this 9 years ago after the first attack in the middle of the night, to be told I had panic attacks, they did an ECG which was normal by the morning as i'd gone back into rhythm, so breathe into a bag on the next attack, which is the worst thing you can do because with AF you have a lack of oxygen in the blood due to the tiny beats not getting oxygen round the body, no wonder I felt worse doing it, the attacks got worse over time and in the last 9 yrs I have been to see 4 different doc's 5 times saying I still have the condition, on the 5th visit last Sept' a new doc finally did an ECG which found the AF straight away, cardiologist wanted the ablation op as I get AF so severely, and here we are now. My gripe is that during all this time at no point did the doc's suggest next time I have an attack to try to get to the surgery and they would do another ECG, they even sent me for a 10 week course of cognitive behavioural therapy for panic attacks, and the problem I have is that my description of the attacks did'nt fit in with panic attacks, they fitted AF perfectly, I'm not suggesting it's easy to diagnose but if I can think it might be something else then surely the doc's can. Because it's been going on for so long I do have some thickening of the heart wall and the cardiologist could'nt understand how I hav'nt had a stroke, I've been bloody bloody lucky frankly.

In the timescale I've had an average of 234 days off self employed work from the AF, let's say 200 to account for it in holidays, we're up to over 30k lost. Then there's the damage to my heart. Tbh I feel somewhat aggrieved. I want to make it clear though that I don't point the finger at anyone, mistakes happen, I have full trust in the medical profession and I never ever complain, I'm not a moaner or compo chaser but 5 times is getting silly, and yes tbh I would like a little something, a couple of grand to go on hols maybe because this condition is horrible, bloody horrible and my attacks last for 12-24 hrs on average every 10-14 days. If there was'nt an insurance pot I would'nt even think about it as I have no desire to blame any individual people.

So what would you do? And thanks and well done if you've read all this.
 
Wait until after the operation and your well into recovery. In the meantime (if you haven't already) document everything - time, dates, visits, attacks, CBT sessions etc. so that you have all the data if or when you decide to claim. I wish you all the best with the op John.
 
Supposed to have the op yesterday actually Marlon but it was cancelled for a few weeks until my blood count rises due to some long term bleeding from a separate issue.

The whole thing is something I'm pondering on, no need to do anything yet, I've got plenty of time.

Thanks a lot. :thumbsup:
 
I've got a heart condition and being the 'centre' of everything, it takes some accepting BUT

Reading through your history, I too would be upset, annoyed, aggrieved and frustrated. To be left with a worsened condition through a lack of diagnosis is awful and whilst I too don't like to kick up a fuss or cause problems there is little doubt you've been let down - for 9 years!

I have been brought up to have respect for medical professionals but some of my life and family history shows that they do not always get it right. Where they do it can be positively life changing but equally, where they don't and the life changes might have been avoided, then it is right to question and demand - they are not infallible and they are over-stretched so you have to make a fuss sometimes.

I'd be interested in what others think of your situation but I would have thought a call to one of the 'No win no pay' accident chasers would be a start . . . .
 
Irrespective of the money you are likely able to claim there's a bigger issue here to look at....

Basically if no one makes a fuss when this kind of misdiagnosis happens then the institution will carry on as normal leaving it open to make the same misdiagnosis again and potentially put some other poor sod through the crap you have had.. Kick up a stink, and hopefully take some money and there will be proper internal investigations done into why this was allowed to happen and why an accurate diagnosis took 9 years.... I mean 9 years FFS! Hopefully this will lead tyo better education for the doctors on your condition and better diagnosis in the future, so yeah my opinion is don't think about it as taking money out of the pot, think of it as casing a scene that should hopefully make changes to procedures and education of the medical teams to ensure the correct tests are done and others get a better outcome from the health service than you did

There's plenty of no win no fee solicitors who deal with medical negligence so you should be able to find out very quickly if you have a case, call a few of them as they will generally have different areas of expertise but honestly I'd put that to the back of your mind as going in for surgery is stressful enough and look into it when you are properly on the mend.

Also want to wish you all the best with the operation I hope there hasn't been too much damage caused by the 9 year delay in getting it.
 
That is a gut wrenching tale of incompetence and although I can understand your reluctance to take further action, I believe it to be a serious case of medical negligence and should be highlighted to higher authorities, sadly the only way to do this is via the legal route.
All the very best to you whatever you decide to do.
 
Speak to an expert.

quick google brought up this page;

http://www.irwinmitchell.com/personal/medical-negligence/misdiagnosis-claims

See what they say.

Good luck. And I wouldn't worry too much about the NHS - They've got plenty money and they need to be held to account.

The next punter to be mis-diagnosed could die !!!
 
Thanks chaps, it's pushing me more in the way I was going, as 85 Genius says it does'nt need to happen to anyone else. Thanks for the link Jasey.
 
It does kinda sound like medical negligence, but if you were going to go down that route, then some kind of solid negligence needs to be proven. Unfortunately this may now be quite difficult ~9 years down the line, as some of the investigatory evidence may no longer exist, but solicitors have specialists who know the proper procedures which must be followed. As said before, if they weren't followed, action should be taken - its worth asking them but it will be a long process.

The fact that your first doctor did an ECG (despite when not having an attack) shows that they were at least on the right route and didn't totally fob you off - im surprised they didn't refer you to a cardiologist. This should have been given to you with discharge advice of "if it happens again, goto A&E" or similar. Much of the time, a GP telling someone they have anxiety actually 'cures' them from the side-effects.

What the solicitors would try to establish is what exact symptoms you presented with, correlate them with GP notes and check them against standard procedure - you'd need to provide a fairly accurate timeline of this. If you turned up at the docs presenting the complaint of "My heart is beating fast and feels strange, im self employed, stressed out" etc. that will immediately start pointing the GP toward Anxiety (which is in turn heightened by your heart doing somersaults).

Speaking from minor experience: Architecture of clinical software and having similar heart complaints (primarily caused by acute Anxiety). I've never claimed any medical negligence but know someone who has.
 
Thanks Ed, I do know the GP surgery changed it's systems around 5 years ago so wether records have been lost or not I don't know, also the fact I did'nt kick up more of a fuss, which I don't like to do, counts against me. You're post is very informative and I'll digest it more in the morning when I'm not so tired, but thanks very much, it's appreciated.
 
Paroxysmal arrthymias are notoriously hard to diagnose. I'm very surprised that a wearable cardiac event monitor wasn't discussed at any point. This is the obvious thing to do when you are having difficulty getting an ECG trace for diagnostic purposes. The latest ones are very unobtrusive, can be worn for a whole week, and are sensitive enough to detect small fluctuations that don't even become full events.
 
MrPT said:
Paroxysmal arrthymias are notoriously hard to diagnose. I'm very surprised that a wearable cardiac event monitor wasn't discussed at any point. This is the obvious thing to do when you are having difficulty getting an ECG trace for diagnostic purposes. The latest ones are very unobtrusive, can be worn for a whole week, and are sensitive enough to detect small fluctuations that don't even become full events.
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Exactly. In a nutshell MrPT the first doc I saw was the practice leader, a long established GP that unfortunately is well known for making errors, we are a number of villages and word gets around, but as this GP is the leader the 2nd one I saw is flaky, I refuse to see her again, she just read the first ones notes and I think it went from there, each one and a locum going on the previous ones notes on panic attacks, that's how I see it anyway, as I cannot understand why none of them thought of anything else, even after I kept saying that the attack trigger was physical, not stress, I was't stressed, I don't have stress, I kept saying it triggers when I did something physical like running up stairs, or lifting, and as a builder that's fairly often. Every session of CBT I told the guy the trigger was physical. Just IMO obviously, but wether I'm right or wrong the fact remains that no-one did anything else for all those years until Sept' last year.

Thanks very much for your post, I'm grateful.
 
The more details I hear from you John, the more shocking your experience becomes. It must be very difficult not to be eaten up with bitterness and anger over whats happened, however from all your previous posts I sense that's not going to happen with you.
 
Marlon said:
The more details I hear from you John, the more shocking your experience becomes. It must be very difficult not to be eaten up with bitterness and anger over whats happened, however from all your previous posts I sense that's not going to happen with you.
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Well it's been a mis-judgement that does'nt need to happen to anyone else and, yes, I'm somewhat aggrieved Marlon but you only have to look at young Lauren for eg, 14 and the mess she's in but still smiling, she's every right to be cross at life, then there's all the millions who have so many different problems that make mine look frankly, paltry, I have no reason really to complain about my condition. The doc's need to know the situation I think for any potential future similar instances, and yes I admit if I can get a holiday out of an insurance pot I will, but there's no way I'm going desk thumping or shouting, it's done, let's get it sorted, and hopefully there's not too much heart damage done.

Thanks very much for your post, all inputs are interesting. :thumbsup:
 
In my opinion, at this stage keep your powder dry !
Have the ablation and get yourself back to full strength and then consider your options.
 
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