Medical negligence?

[MadeWithL0ve]

Hi everyone,

I apologize this is a long winded post .

And I am just looking for advice really or thoughts .

August I was at the hospital for a pain in my leg I got 2 MRI scans one with and without contrast dye, I was told I had a tumor on the spine cauda equina (that was it just a tumor nothing else) this had apparently been picked up in a scan in 2014 but was never communicated to me. I got referred to neurology where I was told I have a form of Spina bifida which is congenital and I've had it since birth , tethered cord and a conus lipoma she went into detail about it. I have had 3 bladder stretches since this which has all been a result of the tethered cord. This being picked up and acted up on in 2014 would of saved me 3 bladder stretches, I had surgery in September which I was told was successful but there was nerve damage resulting in me having a permanent foot drop and reduced sensation to my leg. While in hospital the staff told me they had put the shower chair in place for my shower no one supervised me even though I was doing physiotherapy and had a Zimmer, I ended up falling and hitting my back In the shower. The nurses who helped me did not report this to the charge nurse or doctor and failed to bring me painkillers when asked. I had another MRI in hospital and was told all was fine, When I got discharged I noticed my dressing was covered in fluid so it resulted in me returning to hospital to be checked where a different surgeon told me I had lots of fluid under my incision which was picked up on the MRI again no one told me about this and I ended up with an infection in it. A few weeks after being discharged I started to get some leg pain which was new I went to my doctor who informed me that the nerves had not fully been detethered and some were still stuck ( this was never told to me after surgery I was advised it was all fine and they remember 50% of the lipoma) which had actually only gone down from 13/11 to 9/7 so not halfed in size. I'm now waiting another MRI scan. I don't know if I should contact a solicitor or where I stand with this.

I've got a damaged nerve and loss of sensation in my lower leg and foot following abdominal surgery four months ago. I can only feel my big toe when I walk, so I can sympathise with that. I think the only thing you can do is get advice from a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence. If you don't want any upfront expense there are no win, no fee solicitors that you can find online. My situation is complicated as it wasn't a mistake by the surgeon. It was caused by the stirrups they used to hold my legs out of the way and damaged the nerve in my leg.

The bar for medical negligence is very high - you need to prove that not only was a mistake made, but that the mistake was one that no reasonable doctor would have made.

Doctors have a tendency to stick together on this point - you'll have a job finding a medical expert willing to testify to this effect.

Also, how much of your injury would have happened anyway, even had everthing gone as it should have done.

I empathise greatly with your position though, my own father's death could have been prevented (well, delayed) had he received better care from his GP. In the end, we decided tha the GP was only human, and his error in not checking my Father's blood sugars when he should have, was just one of those things. The GP was beside himself with apology though, had he been on the defensive, as seems to be the case with you, we may have decided differently.