Medical Negligence claim against GP

[amnidyaa]

Aibu to think I have grounds for a claim?

In March 2023 I had an operation on my spine for Cauda equina syndrome. After the operation the spinal specialist sent a letter to me and mh GP saying there is a 5cm growth on my ovary and they recommend a follow up with a Gynecologist and another scan. I went to see my GP and enquired about getting the growth looked at by gynaecology. The GP refused and said people have growths all the time and its nothing to worry about and she said she will not be ordering a follow up.
Then 1 year later in March 2024 I had pain and went to A&E and they did a scan and found the growth was now 10cm and had spread all over the pelvic region. I ended up having to have a hysterectomy within 2 weeks and I had to lose both my ovaries and uterus because the growth had spread. I am now in menopause at the age of 39 and unable to have children all because my GP didnt follow up on the growth before it spread.

Would it brlw unreasonable to think I have a claim?

Absolutely yes. Disgustingly negligent by the GP

But that would be a referral to a different specialist but for the same condition which i believe is still allowed. It’s just the consultant to consultant referrals for different conditions which aren’t. My rheumatologist was suspicious I had MS and told me to go back to my GP and ask for a neurologist referral as it’s a different condition.

dd’s rheumatologist was concerned her heart had been affected by her rheumatologist managed condition and he referred her to cardiology for a scan.

In my trust since 2017 it has been absolutely explicit that it is the consultant's responsibility to make the onward refferal. I refer to other specialties all the time, I have never had one declined (except mental health- but that is a whole new ball game). This sendi g back to GP is unnecessary and potentially dangerous practice....

🤷‍♀️

Then the GP should have told the OP and facilitated that.

When I had a finding during pregnancy the sonographer explained that as it was 5cm it would medically be classed as a cyst and should be followed up with another scan.

which it was.

im sorry this happened to you, I would check the NICE guidance and the gyne guidelines and I would complain to the GMC as this doctor is negligent and dangerous. How bizarre to ignore a specialist colleague. Also go legally. People like this need to be rooted out. Playing god coz too egotistical.

So I refer to :
Neurology ENT, orthopeadics and general surgeons regularly. Never had a problem..... maybe it's just our trust.

Yes, it sounds like you have a case, and you need to have it investigated soon as the time for bringing a claim is relatively limited. Make sure you go to a solicitor who knows what they're doing, preferably one accredited by AVMA.

certtainly seems a variation nationally and I agree that going back to the gp is not in the patients best interest. Locally I’m told it’s to do with payment for referrals. No idea how that actually works.

Difficult to say if you have basis for a claim.

The doctor doesn’t have to go what the consultant advises, it’s advice, not an order, and at the end of the day, they’re both doctors, one doesn’t outrank the other.

If what the gp says is true, and he can justify his reasoning, then you don’t have a claim. However, if the scan could have prevented the situation, then maybe you do.

And sorry you’ve had to go through all this. Wishing you all the best.

I think for clinical negligence claims you have to show that no(?) reasonable doctor would have taken the action they did? And that you suffered a different outcome as a result. Or something along those lines, hopefully someone who knows more is on the thread.

But anyway - I’d have thought it was worth speaking to a lawyer, the GP was specifically told to refer for investigation and chose not to. Maybe if he’d done that, you wouldn’t have needed the hysterectomy.

This was abandoned a while ago precisely because of this type of situation, and because it introduces delay in care.

It doesn't work like that. No doctor can tell another what to do, they can refer for an opinion.

I wish people would stop saying GMC, thats for professional misconduct, not negligence claims, and a good way to absolutely ruin a person's career and life.

As for negligence, nobody here can answer.

It is clear there has been a potential breach of duty by both the neurosurgeon and GP (although for reasons I don't understand never by the radiologist who reports the scan) for not referring in a timely manner.

We don't know for sure that harm has been caused by this breach of duty as the outcome may have been the same if referred earlier.

@5431go

So why didn’t your neurosurgeons refer your you to gyn?

My OH's oncologist won't do any direct referrals to other departments. Always tells him to go to GP to get a referral for anything not directly linked to his cancer. It's a bloody nightmare as OH ends up being passed from pillar to post between the GP surgery and the oncology department.

Even when a skeletal x-ray required by the oncologist showed something (not what the oncologist was looking for), they wouldn't do a direct referral to the orthopaedic department. Told him had to go to the GP to get a referral, which was ridiculous because when he contacted the GP, they had no knowledge of what had been shown on the x-ray, there'd been no communication between oncologist and GP, and GP couldn't access the x-ray. GP just told OH to go back to the oncologist - wouldn't even contact the oncologist themselves to ask for the detail of the problem! Took OH six weeks to get the oncologist and GP communicating directly to move it forward!

It's this kind of fragmentation and ffiefdoms in the NHS that's killing it!

Make sure you get a few opinions. I had one turn the case down, went with someone else, and it was successful.

When you say "a while ago", how long? In my OH's case, it was only six months ago the last time it happened.

@amnidyaa I would suggest you research medical negligence solicitors and pick the one you want and contact them direct. If you just go via the huge number of no win no fee firms and call or email their general enquiries your case will be evaluated at a very low level and the advice given can be poor. I speak from experience.
I found a solicitor who is actually a qualified doctor too and who had worked in the nhs at a senior level before retraining in the law. I read her history of cases and was impressed so I emailed her directly and got far better advice. I had offered to pay her for a one off consultation but after hearing the details she took my case on a conditional fee. If I had allowed the non qualified staff who take calls for the other firms to deter me I would have got nowhere.

The hospital contract is very clear - the person ordering that initial scan should have done the referral.
Not buck passed to the gp.
Too many areas say ‘can’t refer’ when actually anyone can put pen to paper.

Had that come our way, we’d have written back saying do your fecking own work, informed you to contact that team.

if they still hadn’t done it and it met guidance for follow up, I’d off done it and made a formal complaint too the hospital team.

Although the wait here for a pelvic uss is over a year already.

I'm not sure it could be proved as medical negligence. The NHS website makes it clear that you are entitled to ask for a referral but also that "Your GP is not obliged to accept the specialist's recommendations". It's horrible but true that this is the way things work. I think it looks as if she would only be deemed negligent if you had gone to her with symptoms which she ignored. Google "Referrals for specialist care" to get the full explanation. The assumption is that your GP will always have a patient's interests at heart, which these days just isn't always true because of the pressures they work under. I'm so sorry this has happened to you.

That may have been what you were told, but its been the case since 2017 for the whole of England in guidance that explicitly states you shouldn't refer back to a GP for an onward referral

England www.england.nhs.uk › ...PDF Key messages for NHS clinicians and managers NHS England Guidance

Oh my god this is horrific
Yes I would due 100 percent
I know you can't if they haven't diagnosed you or missed a diagnosis but you were!

Well it's happened several times to my OH over the past few years since his cancer diagnosis.

But then again, his oncologist has been pretty useless in other things too, so it wouldn't surprise me that she isn't up to date with the regulations.

That happens from both ends, individual consultants haven't been updated, and the people receiving referrals probably try and use it as a justification to make their own lives easier by getting or of their referrals through ers from a single source (GPs)

If you’re in a Trade Union they may support your claim through referral to their solicitors.
You have 3 years in which to claim so best to look into it now.
I claimed and won against a locum GP; it was stressful.

I did ask a few times to be referred following the specialist's advice.

And for years I've suffered with crippling cramps on that side and terrible periods and the GP just shrugged it off as 'period problems/pms/etc'. I feel that after the advice of ultrasound and if she'd looked thru my medical history she should have followed thru instead of dismissing me.

Ive spoken to a solicitor a couple of days ago and she feels I do have a case. Now the details and my medical files go to a Dr and they look thru and decide
1 - if they would have done anything differently - so would they have referred a year earlier
2 - if the altered decision would have resulted in a different outcome for me - so is it likely if caught earlier could I have kept an ovary.

I'll update on the progress but it might be a very slow process.

Thank you to everyone taking the time to respond