Negligent care

[lovelilies]

Hello all. Just after some advice, my daughter (13) went to A&E with severe abdominal pain on Monday afternoon. They found a huge cyst on a scan on Tuesday. She didn't end up going to theatre until 11pm Thursday where they removed the cyst but as it had twisted round her ovary, she lost the ovary and tube as well.
She was under the care of a few different consultants and the one who took over last night was very shocked she'd been left so long in agony without surgery.
I'm going to pursue a formal complaint to the hospitals (she was transferred between 2 and no one took responsibility for her) but I'm wondering how and if I should pursue a negligence claim as this has caused her a lot of unnecessary suffering and also reduced her fertility for the future.
A google shows loads of no-win no fee type organisations but I've no idea where to start.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Sorry this has happened to your DD. The first thing to say is that there is no hurry. If a claim was to be brought for negligent treatment, this has to begin within three years of the event occurring. In the case of children, this three years does not begin until their eighteenth birthday. I would concentrate on getting her well again for the time being. When you are ready to address this, I would start trying to understand what happened before contacting a solicitor. A carefully written letter to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) will prompt a reply that will explain how and why this delay occurred. It may also help ensure that systems are changed to ensure that this does not happen to anyone else in future. You will then be in a better position to shop around for a solicitor if that's what you want to do with all the facts at your fingertips. The no-win-no-fee solicitors will - of course - expect to walk away with a good proportion of any settlement so read everything carefully before you sign.

I'd be very wary of pursuing, having been through this with DSis. She nearly died due to mistreatment, was left permanently disabled and was medically retired from work. It took four years of appointments and a whole pile of stress she didn't need. While this was going on, the surgeon was struck off for malpractice on another case. She did get Legal Aid, and the lawyers fees were twice the eventual settlement.

I would try to research what the potential claim is from past cases then judge whether it's worth it. From what you've said, it's the cyst that caused the loss of fertility, not the treatment. Only going on your post, your DD had two days of pain and it's probably up to challenge how much of that could have been avoided.

If you think there is a case, I'd pay for an hour with one of the best lawyers in this field (check Chambers www.chambersandpartners.com/11814/140/editorial/1/1) to establish whether you have a case.

Thank you for the replies. I will go through PALs in the first instance. It was 79 hours from arriving at A&E and being taken to theatre. The surgeon who performed the op is pretty sure the ovary would have been saved had the operation been done sooner.
I've also just had another member of theatre staff tell me (she's the talk of theatres!) how did anyone think it was appropriate/ safe to transfer her back to the original hospital once the suspect torsion was confirmed by MRI on the Thursday.
We're still in hospital, going home today hopefully.

I will concentrate on getting DD better again and then pursue this later on.

@mnhq please will you mo e this to legal matters?

Hi OP, 50 years ago in my late teens I also had a large ruptured ovarian cyst. I have no idea how I'd have coped with a four day wait for surgery in that state; luckily I didn't have to.

I'm writing to let you know that I also lost the ovary and the Fallopian tube. I went on to conceive four children with no problem. So please don't worry too much about that aspect.

All the best for your daughter's recovery.