To put in a claim for medical negligence.

[Beanz2022]

Long story short - went in for c section on the 7th, all successful and baby fine, I was fine. on the 8th I was prescribed a very strong ibruprofen suppository, and then given another strong ibruprofen tablet around an hour later when the space in between Both
of these things should have been 12 hours. I started to vomit and felt dizzy and very nauseas when it happened (at this point didn’t realise what had actually happened - just thought they were giving me the prescribed doses) and did wonder why I started to feel unwell.

responsible midwife came to my bedside around 8 hours later and profusely apologised and admitted to what she had done.

I sat there and I was in shock and just accepted he apologies.

now I’ve actually let it sink in… this could have been a lot worse and could have been my newborn or another baby it happened to.

I also googled symptoms and, and it could be fatal, but I appear to have gotten off lightly with some minor sickness and nausea and dizziness.

I have huge medical anxiety anyway but this has tipped me over the edge.

patient experience nurse came round this morning, and just on her general rounds
and I explained to her what happened and she was just as shocked and doesn’t understand how it happened and has let me log an official complaint!

shall I make a claim or leave it alone?

Thanks

I had a mishandled haemorrhage after surgery and almost died. This wasn't even close to the bar for financial compensation from the NHS. What happened to you was unfortunate but honestly, having experienced some really serious failings in medical care, you got off lightly. You've got no case.

It will be a diclofenac suppository, it's an NSAID like ibuprofen

fwiw a double dose of nsaid is very unlikely to have been the cause of those symptoms (which are all quite common after a c-section).

I would absolutely demand an investigation and explanation for how this could have happened and how it can be avoided in future for the sake of anyone else.

A quick call with a solicitor would have told you that you have no case or claim here- claim for what??

I sued for medical negligence once following a botched operation, because my symptoms were ignored (I almost died and had to be blue lighted to the nearest hospital). The reason ; I had to take (unpaid) time off work ,which resulted in me going further into debt and rent arrears and top off that , I almost lost my job because I had a previous absences.

As you can imagine, this was extremely stressful when I was already in pretty bad shape and I was urged sue by many because my case was rock solid and the precise reason why this exists in the first place - not to make money but to recoup losses I incurred due to malpractice.

This was not the NHS, but I would have done the same if it was.

Honestly no, you need to prove substantial loss either of income, career, psychological distress etc.my baby died through negligence and my claim still took over 5 years and endless reports, witness statements, psychological assessments, medial experts to name only a few.

i would complain but highly doubt there is any claim to make xx

so you were given an 800mg suppository and a 400mg pill which is well below the max dose in a hospital of 3200mg in 24 hours. I dont believe you can claim you were overdosed. you can complain doses were spread out as much as required. but I was very nearly given a double dose of innohep after my section which could have caused massive bleeding.

What would you be claiming for exactly?

Putting in a complaint won't necessarily trigger a patient safety investigation. It will depend on 1) how good they are at linking complaints and incidents and 2) what the trusts psirp priorities are. You can ask if they are doing an investigation as part of your complaint and you can ask for engagement.

I wonder whether requesting a birth debrief would be better for you? I know how hard it is to put down feelings about mistakes and done well a debrief might help in ways compensation won't.

I went to A&E having a heart attack. I was sent home with a diagnosis of esophageal problems when I had a known history of heart problems and was on the waiting list for an angiogram.
I subsequently got the right treatment... a stent ... at another hospital.
I contacted PALs at hospital one who thoroughly investigated it and sent me the full papers... protocols had been changed for A&E, new training had been instituted going forward and my case is being used as an example.
I did not pursue a case for negligence or try for compensation. I could have died, but I was not after money. I wanted others to be safer as a result of my intervention and this was achieved.
I was impressed that noone tried to hide from me that an error had been made but simply set about reducing risk going forward.

The team looking after you spotted the error, owned up to the error, and apologised to you and told you what had happened. This implies they took it seriously and followed the appropriate steps on find the mistake.

This sort of error will always happen because humans are fallible. They have steps to follow to try and minimise the risk of human error. It appears they were following those steps.

You suffered no loss, though I appreciate the sickness must have been unpleasant, however sickness is very common post surgery and in all likelihood not a result of the medication error.

I think you are being unreasonable for the above reasons and need to move on.

I have a clinical negligence claim currently against the NHS Trust where my Dad died. The threshold for a claim is very high and there has to be causation. You don't have any reason to claim, no Solicitor would take this on. As others have said go via PALS and make a complaint but you cannot just choose to sue the NHS for such a minor reason especially where no injury occurred.

No, yabu. You have nothing to claim for nothing happened and they owned up at the time. Stop trying to get money for nothing.

And 1600mg can be prescribed as a single daily dose anyway. So even it had have been 800mg+400mg that’s still less than the amount that can be given as a single dose.

I really can’t see that I was given a dose of ibuprofen that’s within the safe maximum dosage just not on the schedule it should have been is a cause for compensation.

I suspect that the only result of a claim like this, beyond costing the OP money, is that it encourages people not to own up to errors.

Complain to PALS.

You are totally right - this is what the world is coming to. There always has to be a complaint, or offense has been caused, or an entitled view is so important.

Honestly be with your baby OP. It wouldn't even enter my mind to complain after I had already told someone, got an apology and went home. Nothing happened to you.

What physical harm has been done to you and what loss have you suffered as a result?
Feeling dizzy and sick for a while isn’t really damage. 🙄

And you may even suggest that this was due to post c section and not the ibuprofen?

Claim for what? You and your baby are fine.

Claim away! You won't get anywhere and you won't end up with compensation. You suffered no harm, you weren't given over the therapeutic dose in 24 hours, and you will end up looking daft. But if it makes you feel better, then crack on.

Compensation comes from nhs insurance so don’t worry.

without long term harm you won’t have a claim but you could make a complaint via PALS.

But why make a complaint?

Yes there was an error (but I agree with previous posters that it's very unlikely to have caused harm, and the OP's symptoms may well be related to her recent major surgery) but it was noticed, the OP was informed, the staff member apologised. I imagine a datix will have been put in on the ward side so it'll already be 'logged' (mumsnet favourite term...) so an error analysis can take place.

Costs coming out of NHS insurance is only part of the impact. Complaints take time to deal with which takes away from clinical work. There's also the emotional effect on the clinician complained about - it may well be the final straw for a person already working in a stressful and under resourced job.

I'm obviously not saying that you should never complain (I've actually received compensation for a medical negligence case before) - there are 100% circumstances where it is an entirely appropriate action, but what does the OP actually want here? An apology? She's had it. For it never to happen again? I'm not sure we can ever 100% guarantee there will never be a drug error. Compensation? For what?

Drug errors happen OP, nurses are human and make mistakes like everyone else. I think this was handled pretty well tbh, the nurse came to you and admitted what had happened which she is obligated to do as she has we have a duty of candour. I assume each dose was 600mg possibly 800mg at the absolute most. Both combined are still under the max 24 hour ibuprofen dose. Ibuprofen is very very rarely fatal in overdoses and needs a huge amount (much more than that) to be fatal. The main issues with large doses of ibuprofen are when taken at high doses (>2.4g/24hr) for prolonged periods of time are kidney issues and GI problems. Very long term use risks cardiovascular problems. Neither would apply in this situation. By all means complain to pals but I can almost guarantee she has already self reported via the Datix system.