Has anyone ever sued a GP for side effects of a medication?

[jemimavintage]

Hello lovely group - Very quickly...

I had painful periods. I was refused a stronger painkiller to help with them. I'm now 50. This all kicked off approx. 3 years ago. Before then NO HISTORY of painful periods (even tho they've been getting more and more painful since a c-section in 1995), no history of pain meds, no history of ANY type of illness... Normal weight, 8 stone.

GP gives me Cerelle... within a month I am very very poorly... within 3 months I've had an emergency admission into a hospital in USA and had 3 procedures: gallbladder removal (no stones, no sludge, only mega irritation, cholecystitis), sphinctertomoy (because the sphincter had closed shut and blown my common bile duct out to several size that it should be, right up into my liver actually!!, and some stenting of that duct to help keep it open. The cost was $76,000. Health insurance paid it.

I have zero doubt that the WHOLE ISSUE, was caused by Cerelle. 'Gallbladder' disease is listed as a side effect. It also did NOTHING to stop my period pain, in fact, it gave me cramps and bleeding every single day.

I feel pretty mad to have gone through all of that. I was so scared. 6 days in hospital feeling very very poorly. Some outpatient appointments, a private MRCP scan in Harley St when I got back for £3,000 of my own money because I was still in pain and was worried that the hospital in USA (small border town) had screwed up. Well they had. I HAD acute pancreatitis from the gallbladder/sphincter issue....and no-one there told me. That lead to me having pancreatitis for 12 months and not realising it. My UK GP - the same practice - dismissed the Harley St conclusion that I had acute pancreatitis and tried to not give me any pain relief, saying it wasn't possible that I had it because my GB had now come out.

The Cerelle had a 'side effects' sheet in the box. One never thinks that one will GET the side effects. And I actually believed....that the 'pill' would stop my periods and give me some much needed relief.

On to today, I have adenomyosis and possibly endometriosis.. This has nothing to do with why I'm interested in whether I can DO anything about having suffered those side effects as a result of taking Cerelle tho..

I mean, can we bring a case for side effects from a med that the GP probably thought would.........help the situation??!!? It was a direct bunch of CRAP I got from that medication..

thanks group,

Jem x

Some patients are indeed nuisances.

Some patients just want to find someone to blame.

Some patients just have it in for doctors.

Some patients have really unreasonable expectations for what doctors can do for them.

Some patients kind of hope for a quick buck by suing.

And some patients complain about doctors on the internet while being exceptionally antagonistic, having dropped heavy hints about a history of psychiatric treatment and diagnoses they feel were inappropriate and then dodged further questions about them.

I have a feeling this is more complex than just goady fucker territory.

When you began to be very poorly and feel pain - did you take any over the counter medications for pain relief?

Even paracetamol has a long list of side effects.
I don’t think you’d have a leg to stand on as you do need to take some responsibility for yourself by reading the information leaflet that comes with medication.

@PaddyF0dder But some doctors make mistakes that leave a patient worse off in the long run.

I second what @threepio said ... if you have ongoing pancreatitis, it has become chronic pancreatitis. Sorry you are not well, it’s a terrible illness.

Get a lawyer if you're interested in pursuing a drug company. And good luck.

I've never read anything as ridiculous as this thread. If everyone sued their GP for experiencing side effects, there would be none left to practice. Side effects are exactly that, effects that you can get as a result of taking the drugs. Some are likely some not so much, some very rare. This is why they are listed and why there is a leaflet available to inform the patient.

Can you imagine, every patient who develops cancer after they had hrt?

Thankfully, it doesn't happen because the chances of PROVING that it was definitely a side effect of the medication rather than just bad luck, because yes, random bad luck does happen... a lot... is next to none in a case like this one, let alone PROVING that one wouldn't have taken the medication if they'd been informed and warned of the side effects.

You are clearly stil traumatised by what happened, which is understandable, so would benefit from counselling to let your anger out, not suing innocent people.

Did you report this via the yellow card reporting system?

BTW lovely to hear from all the GPs here who think sick patients are just whingeing... so sorry, we should just stay home and suffer unless a limb has fallen off hmm

I think it's just some patients that annoy them and I can't say I blame them after reading this thread

Thanks
Pickwick

Thanks lols

But some doctors make mistakes that leave a patient worse off in the long run.

EVERY professional makes mistakes. Doctors, architects, pilots. Because no one and no product is perfect.

If you don't want any risk, stay at home.

Has an adverse drug reaction report been lodged in your case? This would not have to be by the prescribing Dr but would have been by any Dr treating you for any of this that believes it was associated with the drug? The country it was prescribed in and the country you were treated in doesn’t matter, all countries have the mechanism for Dr’s to do this. That’s how drug companies collate side effects and determine causality and frequency once the drug has left clinical trials and is being used in the greater population. So, essentially has a Dr considered that the use of the drug may be causally related to what has happened to you or is it what you think? If so, it would have been their obligation to report this.

Theoretically, and while extremely unlikely for the vast majority of medicines, death could be a side effect. Something could happen, things could cascade. The thing is though, could it be foreseen? Again, for the vast majority of drugs any inkling of this would tip a risk/benefit profile towards risk and both drug companies and regulators would be adverse to it even going to market. Obviously there are exceptions such as chemo drugs where a huge risk profile is acceptable given the alternative of no treatment.

Are you American by any chance? A lot of your thought patterns seem to be typical of Americans. Also, you seem very fixated on things beyond what may be usual in this situation. I would think counselling may be a good idea after what you have been through irrespective of what you feel is the cause.

GP gives me Cerelle... within a month I am very very poorly... within 3 months I've had an emergency admission

But you didn't go back to your GP or stop taking the pills.

It also did NOTHING to stop my period pain, in fact, it gave me cramps and bleeding every single day.

And still you did not go back to your GP.

That lead to me having pancreatitis for 12 months and not realising it. My UK GP - the same practice - dismissed the Harley St conclusion that I had acute pancreatitis and tried to not give me any pain relief, saying it wasn't possible that I had it because my GB had now come out.

12 months is not acute.

jemimavintage Are you thick? You do realise that the issues you had can stem from something listed as a side effect, those issues that come from said side effect do not need to be listed because you know, common sense and you have access to google and a fucking voice to speak with. If I’m not sure about a side effect I either google or ask more specific questions. You didn’t do that, that isn’t on your GP that’s on you. You have no case and clearly just want the money or something to busy yourself with.

Thanks.

Quack.

Also, if you’re so ducking concerned maybe you should actually report your side effects and if many people do the same it will be printed as a side effect. Do you not k ow how the side effect section on the leaflet works? They can’t report on a side effect if they have no idea what it is, it takes people reporting for them to become aware. This thread is the funniest thing I’ve read in a while. I can’t believe people can be so stupid and not realise that they are wrong and should learn from others.

quack good point but idk how that would work? Because op's side effect is already listed. She is complaining about complications of the side effect which is not related to the cerelle but rather related to her bodys unlucky reaction to the side effect.

I ended up nearly dying of sepsis after a c section should I sue the staff who did the C section , of course not I got unlucky in how my body responded .

This sounds like a terrible ordeal, I think the best option is for you to see a lawyer and ask if you have a case

MarthaArthur I completely agree. I didn’t make my point very clear lol what I meant was, if the op is so insistent that her reactions to a side effect should be listed as a side effect itself then why hasn’t she informed the right people?

Oh i see your point! 100%. Its a very unfortunate thing to have been through but i just fail to see how anyone is to blame.

It really is unfortunate but I agree, no one is to blame here. People should read more about side effects in general. I can receive the exact same medication say antibiotics for example, and I will still read the entire leaflet before taking them even if I know I’ve been fine before. Even folic acid I sat and read again recently and I’ve had two babies now and was fine on it. I’m very cautious lol

OP appears to have repeatedly refused to acknowledge the question that many have asked 'Have you reported this to MHRA?'

Because it does tell you to do that on the pack insert.

The British pack insert does mention risk of death (in the thrombosis section) but neither of the two versions I checked online make any mention of the gall bladder at all.

OP: can you link the version you have? Or photograph it and upload? Because I think we need rather more clarity on this.

Hopping
Anyone, including patients can report to MHRA on Yellow Card System now- it used to be HCP only.
As scaevola has confirmed the on line version of the Patient Info leaflet doesn't mention gall bladder at all ( nor does the SPC). However both were updated this year, and this prescribing seems to have been done about 2016. The SPC was updated in Jan 2016 and Jan 2017 and I can see undesirable effects were amended in 2016 but not the actual change.
What was the evidence ( not opinion) that your UCH consultant based his/her comments that the hormones were responsible for your pancreatitis etc?

Yes, I do understand that Daisymay but my rationale was that the OP seems hell bent on legal action. Self-reporting is fine and the OP should have done this if she felt there was causation however when undertaking legal action of this type there is a burden of proof. It’s well and good for the OP to make wild claims, I was essentially asking whether a qualified medical practitioner had cause to think there was an association. In which case they should have reported (in addition to the self-report OP is free to make). This would lend weight to a legal case as opposed to the OP just ‘believing’ it is the case.

The only other angle I can think of is if the drug company had received reports of these complications associated with the broad descriptor, acknowledged association and were remiss in adding them/describing appropriately or took too long to do so but I really really doubt that’s the case at all.

It’s a case of unfortunately shit sometimes happens, it’s terrible if it happens to you and you have a right to feel how you feel but you can’t lay blame where none reasonably exists.

Yes agreed. If the GP or other HCP involved felt there was a causation they shoud have reported it and assisted in any follow up.
I am curious abut the evidence that the Surgeon based his comment that the Gall bladder problem and subsequent problems were definately caused by the medicine is based on. The current SPC and PIL don't mention any Gall Bladder effects at all , so it would be good if the OP copied her leaflet and put it on here.
It is why I asked earlier if she was sure she had named the correct drug.

I wanted to sneak in and say I believe you OP.

I am a little shocked but not surprised at the reaction you have received.

Medicine is not perfect, negative reactions happen. The cost of treating the effects of medical errors and drug side effects is a significant factor in the overall cost of providing medical care. There are drugs which treat the condition for which they are licenced but leave the patient requiring further treatment for side effects, in some cases leave the patients with a lower quality of life without having a positive effect on overall mortality rates in the test population.

Should we not hold the medical establishment to account when things go wrong?