Hi Everyone,

As some of you know my mom was diagnosed with Tonsil/tongue base cancer last year.

I wrote and complained to the hospital, as she had been going for 4 months, when they had re-assured us there was nothing wrong. She had a clear MRI report etc.

i had fully expected the hospital to write back and deny any wrong doing, but they have written and admitted the scan was "under-reported" in their words.

they go on to accept mom was mis-diagnosed, and also there were "unacceptable" delays in treatment. I have found this all rather upsetting. Actually seeing it written down has been quite upsetting.

We are considering contacting a solicitor, and I wondered what your advice is.

The care from moms oncologist has been second to none, and Im scared if we do proceed legally, it might cause bad feeling against us.

Im also considering a meeting with the hospital, they have offered us this, and I might take it up, and give the incompetant ENT surgeon who missed her cancer HELL!!!!

Thanks guys

If I werre you and I know it's easy for me to say, Dr J would probably disagree, but I would write back and tell them that you do not wish to take any further action at present and will leave it to them to make sure they take the very best of care in the future, Leaves you some room for the future.

Good Morning,
I go along with Angie and would add that it is always a poor idea to slam a door, you never know when you might need to go through that door again to ask for help. If you do attend the meeting, keep your cool and don't give anyone hell. The meeting would be with administrators who are used to this sort of thing. Remember this ,if you lose your temper you lose the argument!
If you are considering consulting a solicitor in persuit of compensation bear in mind that the person responsible for the error will not make the payout, it will come out of hospital funds leaving less for patient care.
Keep Smiling
John

hi all

i find this argument very interesting as I had a biopsy and was told i had an "allergy", only to return 18 months later to have another biopsy when i finally got the bad news. I questioned the results of the first biopsy at the time of my diagnosis and the consultant said "it mentions the presence of abnormal cells " !!

My friends and family thought I should try to make a claim against them. It goes against my values, but I had to think about my children too (Iam a single Dad and self employed!). There was a strong argument to try. Apart from a financial gain it was also suggested that I should do it just so that an injustice is put right.

But as the last two posts mention I also didnt want to create any possible friction within the department that i was going to rely on to get me better again. I also thought about the financial cost to the health authority and decided that really there was no point in taking money out of a health system that I was relying on to keep me alive!

There is a compensation culture which I hate and loathe, but I must admit I seriously contemplated action. I felt frustrated and annoyed, especially as the cancer had also spread to my lymph nodes, undoubtedley due to the length of time I had the tumour, and I do feel there has been negliagence.

I have done nothing and probably never will now. I concentrated my efforts on getting better and I'm getting there now. Maybe I'm too laid back for my own good and should have done more. I would not criticise anyone in similar circumstances for taking legal action but it is not for me. I like to look at the bigger picture, legal action takes money away from those people who are doing life saving work, mistakes do and can happen and those responsible should be reprimanded but I have suffered enough and I wouldnt get any satisfaction out of inflicting misery or suffering on any individual through disciplinary action so I will continue to "bite my tongue" (pardon me for the irony...I would bite it if I could ) Maybe I'm doing more harm by doing nothing? It's a moral dilemna and would appreciate any other comments about this please.

Just my story and doesnt help your question at all, but thought it was relevant??

I would be interested to know what happens at your meeting though so please post back!

cheers
gordon

Very wise counsel from both Angie and John, in my opinion.
No doubt about it, you and your Mum have been caused a good deal of unwarranted angst, pain, fear etc etc as a result of the treatment you have had and nothing you say or do will change that.
Some people seem to find satisfaction in litigation but I can't see the point. It changes nothing and achieves nothing. Unfortunately so long as you are dealing with humans and machines, you will have a margin of error. No-one would set out to be negligent or to cause hurt or sorrow to anyone. Sometimes things just happen. It sucks particularly badly if you're the one on the front line, but no-one is without fault in any walk of life. I bet those concerned in your Mum's misdiagnosis have been raked over the coals but the drilling they'd have received from the bosses would be nothing compared to the torture they'd be putting themselves through.
Don't be distracted by what is past. Put your energies and concentration into your Mum's healing and the life that lies ahead.
Cheers from Down Under
Deborah

good words deborah.

that sums up my feelings very well, wish i'd written that lol.

Live life in the present for the future not in the past. (I think that sums it up?)

thanks
gordon

Me again
How strange, Gordon that our posts went through at exactly the same time!
This topic has me thinking (not necessarily a good thing .....)
I have thought/wondered about Trevor's situation. In July 2008 he had a PET scan ~ all over to see if there was any sign of his primary. Nothing. We were of the belief that any cancer has to be at least 1 cm before it shows up on a PET scan (I really don't know if that's true). That being the case, I CANNOT believe the scan showed NOTHING when 12 months later he was so full of cancer he didn't stand a chance of survival. Did someone miss something?
We could've spent time and energy asking about that. How could it possibly have not been there the previous year? How much we would have missed in those precious 10 months if we had allowed ourselves to be distracted by what might have been. No-one knows when their time will be up so make the most of every minute of every day everyone.
Sorry to rant. I have had some wine as tonight we celebrated Marley's second birthday. Where has that time gone? Perhaps I'm just slightly melancholy.
D

wise words indeed deborah and enjoy your wine!

gordon

Well i have to say that i don't agree with any of the above.
Doctors take a hypocratic oath,and they have a duty of care.If they don't meet that standard then they are negligent.If no one says anything about this negligence then it will happen again and again to other people.People die because of negligence.People die because their cancer goes undetected or worse still is overlooked. People die beause their treatment is delayed until it is at a stage when a cure is just not possible.This is not acceptable at any level and will keep on happening because of our attitude towards the medical profession.They are not gods and they do make mistakes and they should be accountable.No one should fear their treatment will be compromised because they have the courage to complain.

I recently complained to the PALS service at my local hospital about a doctor who carried out a procedure on my shoulder.Not only were they sympathetic,understanding and very very helpful,they also thanked me for bringing the matter to their attention as they only find out about poor patient service if the patients tell them.The matter has been investigated,i received an apology and the assurance that i will not in the future have to deal with this doctor again at my request.

My life was not in danger and i do not have an incurable illness,but Robin did,and it has been proved that the six month delay in the diagnosis of his cancer undoubtedly reduced his chances of survival from 90% to 30%.His dentist was found guilty of misconduct and made to undergo a retrain in how to identify malignant lesions in the mouth hopefully meaning he will never make the same mistake again.If we had said nothing how many more peopl may have died as a result of his inability or carelessness?

This is a very emotive subject for me and i would say you have a responsibility to make sure such mistakes don't keep on happening.

Hi everyone,

Thsanks for the advice. Im inclined to agree with Liz, I think it is the most responsible thing to do to make a complaint, because if people get away with making these mistakes then it will happen again and again.

I accept that where you have humans working then we will make errors. If the man who fixes your boiler makes an error, you end up with no heating. But when people make mistakes in hospital, people die as a result. We put our lives into their hands, and when they let us down its scary.

My mom did say she would not want to take action against the hospital, as it may take resources away from others, but I think the only way you get these people to listen is hurting them in the pocket!

I still feel very upset about this matter, and have just spoken to out MP about it. I may put it on the back boiler for now, but I just feel so upset that they can send a letter, admit their mistakes, and do nothing about it.

I suppose the one thing that matters is that my mom makes it, nothing else really matters. The hospital could offer my mom a million pounds, and it would not make up for the distress caused.

Everyday I wake up and think, if only I had paid to have the scan done privatly, if only I had pushed the hospital to give her a quicker appointment, if only. Its really frustrating.

But then once her PET scan is done in April im hoping that we can get back to normality.

I think there is a difference between making a complaint and suing for compensation. We can all make mistakes but can only learn from them and ensure they don't happen again if we know about them. I think what most people want is an apology, an admission that a mistake was made and to be told what actions are being put in place to prevent a repetition and to save other people from going through the same thing in the future. In my Trust we encourage complaints for these reasons (though admittedly we don't deal with physical illnesses). I think the compensation culture mentioned above militates against this as clinicians may be afraid to apologise and admit their mistakes because they may be accepting liability and might be sued. We then get a very defensive system which does nobody any good.

That said,I do think people who suffer large financial losses because of an accident or mistake in the NHS should get some compensation, but feel that there must be a better way of providing this.

Deborah - is Marley really two? I can hardly believe it. Do you have any recent pictures you can post? Do hope your melancholy passes soon.

Love

Gwyn

Hi Liz
I was thinking of you when I was posting last night. Your complaint had a positive outcome which hopefully will benefit everyone that dentist now treats. This outcome was achieved in a relatively short time after the original mis-diagnosis. You still have to deal with your grief but underlying that is the knowledge you have done your best to ensure something good has come out of your pain and loss and that you have reduced the chance of someone losing their life as Rob did.
This is the difference, I believe, between complaint and litigation. I don't suppose your legal system is any less clogged than ours and if you had chosen to sue this guy then it would probably still be in the system. The drawn out process would not only be causing it's own stresses but you wouldn't be able to put it behind you, lay it to rest and move (at whatever rate) through the grieving process. It would extend your suffering and achieve what? Any results are so far after the event the outcome is ineffectual.
I'm not saying that anyone should 'button up' because if I'm not happy with any service I recieve I make my point known. I will get another opinion if necessary and am a great one at putting my feelings down on paper, whether it be in praise or to express my dissatisfaction. We all need to do that so that the 'goodies' know they are appreciated and the 'baddies' know we're onto them. That's a fair and reasonable thing to do to maintain high standards. Litigation causes angst and anger and changes nothing ( and I'm raving on ~ just for a change).
Here endeth my contribution!

Howdy Gwyn
Yes,he's 2. There sure has been some water under the bridge in that time, hasn't there? Charlotte will be 1 on Thursday and has just started walking. I do have some lovely snaps of them both but there's the issue of me and technology to be gotten around! I'll have to see if Peta will up (or is it down?) load them for me!
Cheers everyone
Deborah

The old days of doctors covering up mistakes to protect colleagues is long past. The NHS encourages justified complaints. Bad doctors do get punished or retrained. See NCAS. It is in everyone's interests to improve the service as each one of us is a potential user of the NHS.

Any financial losses incurred owing to mistakes made should be made good by the NHS but litigation as a punitive measures only serves to drain the service of the taxpayers funds (our) it needs. So it serves no benefit to the system.



NHS Complaints Policy

quote:

From 1 April 2009, there is a single approach to dealing with complaints. It gives organisations the flexibility they need to deal with complaints effectively. It also encourages a culture that seeks and then uses people’s experiences to make services more effective, personal and safe.

Over 90 health and social care organisations have tested the new approach for dealing with complaints. To help other NHS and social care organisations implement the new system a range of support is in place.

The relevant legislation is contained in two sets of regulations. The original regulations, which came into force on 1 April 2009, were amended on 1 September; the amendments only correcting defects in the original regulations.

• The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009
  
• The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dr Vinod K Joshi,

I go both ways on this and think that each case has to be weighed before I can make a judgement. Here's one in the news today that I would definitely sue for all he's got and everything he hopes to have:

Doctor removes wrong kidney