Suing the NHS??

[Julieelizabeth5]

Hi all, I would like some advice, I am 20 years old, since I was 5 (since 2002) I have been suffering with seizures, the first few seizures I had, my parents took me to the doctors and they always put it down to “migraine shock” as I’ve always suffered with migraines, when I was 10 (Boxing Day 2007) I suffered a really bad seizure which required an ambulance to come out to me as I was unresponsive, still getting put down to migraine shock... I got put on a medication called beta blockers when I was 12-13 years old to help with the migraines, cut a long story short, 4-5 different medications later and now 18 years old, the doctors FINALLY decided to refer me to the hospital for brain scans to determine why I was actually having these seizures, turned out I am epileptic, which had been untreated for 13 years, diagnosed and started being treated at the age of 19 years old, and now have tissue damage to the back of my brain due to not being treated for so long, I have had numerous people telling me that this was “NHS Negligance” and that I should sue the NHS... But it’s daunting me that the NHS wouldn’t help me anymore when I need them, how many of you would go through with suing the NHS after 14 years of mistreatment?

Op I'm not medically trained but on the basis of your post I would say that you have been massively let down over a period of years.

The NHS pays into an indemnity fund for exactly this sort of thing and I see nothing wrong with you claiming for the damage done to you.

Whether or not you will be able to prove negligence is the question, but a good lawyer will be able to help you with this and there are lots of funding options including no win no fee. Make sure you choose a good lawyer though. Have a look at the legal 500 for clinical negligence in your area.

Best of luck.

This is hard op as I'm in a similar position. I've been told I only have five years to live by the NHS many times and then told it's something different so I don't know if I'm even going to live another year or if it's just nothing!
Despite this I wouldn't be suing in your situation. If you think about it doctors see a lot of people every day and 99.99% of them with symptoms the same as yours might have migraine shock (I don't know what that is so I can't be sure). To me it's the same as when someone is diagnosed with a cold and then almost dies then go to the daily mail with a sad face and people say the doctor should be hung, drawn and quartered. Realistically though lots of people go to the doctors with a cold and if they sent all those people for extensive tests it would be ridiculous. I disagree it's negligence, it's just diagnosing something from their experience which is all they can really do!

I do apologise for the grammar in my posts, I have a 1 year old trying to climb me. Hopefully you get the idea
Also, very sorry for what you've been through!

I'm honestly amazed at some of the response LS and lack of empathy on here. The op believes that she now has brain damage as a result in the delay in providing her with treatment.

I am a solicitor and I am certainly not an "Ambulance chaser"! I find it incredibly offensive.

OP why don't you get in touch with AVMA. They are a brilliant charity who help victims of medical accidents. They can help you with a complaint.

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Unfortunately the only way you can expect to get decent healthcare in Britain is to pay for it.

Don't assume because you pay for it it is 'decent healthcare'

I am a solicitor and I am certainly not an "Ambulance chaser"! I find it incredibly offensive.

I'm sure your first post on MN wasn't asking people to PM you for advice then as the person who was accused of that was.

I expect you have a file about a foot thick- who has the time to read all of the way through that and to find out exactly what tests you have/ haven't had?

Hopefully doctors and consultants who are treating the OP

OP ,I'd start with your GP and take it from there.

Thank you everyone for your advise, I have read through every comment, and the people saying that “migraine shock” and epilepsy symptoms are the same, it’s not, migraines are also a symptom of epilepsy in some cases, the way I am thinking, it shouldn’t have took them 14 years to give me a real diagnosis, as a result of that, I know have slight brain damage, I’m 20 years old and my memory is awful as a result to wrong treatment and not being diagnosed, surely they shouldn’t have gave me all the treatment they did if they didn’t know for sure what was wrong with me?