Medication compensation?

[ArnoldBee]

My DH has just found out that the damage that his liver was caused by a medication that he was given in the past. No-one had ever told him - he only found out as he was given a print out by his GP for his urgent referral to cardiology. He's on various medications with his health issues and pretty much has been experimented on for the past 30 years as he is beyond current medical science.

There is nothing that can be done to heal his liver other than monitoring for the rest of his life.

His liver function is impacted by this damage which does impact on his everyday life.

I don't need opinions on the morals of suing the nhs as that's a moral question for him to consider for himself.

I just couldn't tell by googling if this was even a possibility?

At the moment you look like ambulance chasers.

I have worked in pharmacies and hospitals across 6 different trusts since 2006 and have never once come across sotalol and rarely flecainide. Neither would be a first line choice so would imagine that he would have tried a variety of different antihypertensives and anti-arrythmics prior to being offered the above to see if he benefited from this medicine most likely under a cardiology consultant as part of the management of a complex cardiac presentation. This really is the nature of medicine, finding drugs that work for each patient...thats why there are so many of each class of drug. It is not doctors performing medical experiments unless he was part of a research trial in which case I would be incredibly surprised if there wasn't a follow up. If doctors went through each and every potential side effect there would be even less GP appointments available and everyone would be terrified to take any medicine. Patient information leaflets have been a legal requirement since 1999.

I understand it must be frustrating not having the answers to your husbands health issue, I'm not convinced you are going to get the answers you are looking for, I think you may find it difficult to prove that the harm (NAFLD) wouldn't have happened if the doctor hadn't prescribed that med considering he is overweight, has t2 Diabetes and I'd imagine from the meds he is on some sort of hypertension or cardiovascular disease. 59.6% of people with T2DM have NAFLD. Probably best to start with a subject access request and find out which medication it was that potentially damaged his liver?

It sounds like he presented with a dangerous and complicated heart condition, which was difficult to treat.
In those circumstances, a lot of medicines may have been tried, to see if any of them produced an improvement.
I'm not sure that you have a case here.
If you can find out which medicine was mentioned in the notes as being responsible for his developing NASH, come back to the thread and tell us what it is and what the notes say, exactly.

And this is why i asked the initial question as any decision is his not mine. I was trying to suss it out without doing anything official to ruffle anyone's feathers.
Hes been on so many medications that to see one specified was a shock.

Sotalol is absolutely not a standard drug

Why doesn't he just ask them at his next appointment?? Say he glimpsed something about a drug causing his liver function abnormalities but it was the first he'd heard of it?

That sounds eminently sensible.

Yes it does sound sensible however getting an appt with the GP is another story...

It won't necessarily be in the gp records if he was under a consultant at the time of prescription or for reviews. He could dsar his records but would need someone to explain them to you.

Its not on the NHS app either.

GPs get copies of hospital letters, so there may be a record of it.

It would also require a small rainforest and would take a significant amount of time.

I meant at the next hospital appointment, when the hospital letters will be there in front of them ...

You could ask for a phone appt.

Or just wait for his next hospital appt.

I think you're chasing ghosts with this one.

I can't see any respectable medicolegal expert standing-up, so long after the fact, in a case so complex and stating that either of the drugs where the cause of the liver abnormalities.

To even begin a successful compensation claim, you need to establish a duty of care was so significantly breached as to amount to negligence, that harm has
occurred, and that there is a chain of causation that directly links the two.

I think you'll find it very hard to prove causation, and, depending on the notes and the specifics of the conditions being treated, potentially very difficult to prove there was a breach in duty of care, never mind negligence.

I don't believe for a moment that the notes say "X drug caused liver damage". OR that it actually says he is "beyond medical science".

Neither are comments that any dr would make.

The beyond medical science is quoted in 2 letters copied to DH which are in my filing Cabinet. His health is a minefield and its awful to live with hence his depression.

I truly do not think that any doctor would be able to state definitively that a particular medication was the cause of your husband's NASH.

It just isn't something they would write on a letter to anyone.

Now I find this an oddly worded letter to be honest!

So there is some irritation which gives occasional abnormal lft readings but is currently fine. To identify what may be causing it would necessitate a biopsy and at this point the risks outweigh the benefit. Nothing attributes it to a specific drug or beyond medical science.

There's nothing at all odd about the wording there. Is it that you don't understand the letter?

This is why I think its a bit odd!

But why would they mention it, it is a record of the discussion at the appointment.

WHAT is why you think it's a bit odd? That poster was just summarising the point of the letter for you. What are you confused about?