Does anyone know how easy it is to sue a hospital??

[jennybensmummy]

quick background my son has autism and the paediatrician we had left in the summer, since then there has been various locums who dont stay long. we saw one of these in november dr A who was horrible to me in appointment saying i was depressed and i was the centre of bens problems - there is not evidence of any link between depression and autism, then she sent a clinic letter also saying the same. then recently the diability living allowance people dwp sent a form to the paediatrician asking about my son we were then refused the mobility component we had applied for, to see if the reason was obvious from the paeds reply i asked (as youre within your rights to do) for a copy of this form the paed had filled in. well it arrived yesterday and in the further information section the paed (a different one another locum who has never seen us - so this is obviously written in my sons notes) has written "mother has depressive illness including post natal psychosis and needed medication and counselling" now i have never has post natal psychosis only post natal depression which is very different, and even then its nothing to do with my sons autism. i have checked with gp and health visitor and they have no records saying any paed has asked for my notes and they would need my permission anyway to see them, and in my notes there is no mention of post natal psychosis as i never had it. so can i sue them for this???

records can be wrong dsm;maybe its not fabricated, maybea file was confused ora slip of paper got into the wrong file; quite possible

In that case, simply ask them to change the notes, or make a new note that this isn't true and was an error.

Problem sorted.

Suing them is shocking. Its the NHS for goodness sake.

In her alst post, isn't that what she seems to be doing though?

If it were me I'd want an apology oh yes, a decent one at that. I also think suing is only for where there is a very real need- severe birth or vaccination damage, that sort of thing. But its absolutely important that the records are changed for OP's child's longterm care (these things have massive impacts in our ASD world which is full of SS, CAHMs etc etc) and an apology for both OP's sake and for the future education to the Paed who amde the error. I know I'd be devastated if it was implied I'd caused the boy's ASD.... it's an emotive time at the least, and us SN mums can blame ourselves pointlessly leading to all sorts of upset.

Was the paediatrician that you saw trying to say something along the lines of your depression maybe making it more difficult to manage your sons autism?

I dont think that the comment about you on the DLA form would have harmed your sons application for DLA, as it was true it wouldnt lessen your sons need for additional support.

You could ask to have the notes amended if they are incorrect.

Of course, in fact I can remember one doctor telling my mother that my sisters SN were most likely her fault

I agree that she would want the notes to be amended, and an apology, and probably an investigation into the doctor that wrote it.

However, I still stand by that suing the NHS for 'hurt feelings' is a horrendous idea. Selfish.

tigger I think it would- they only look at childs needs not anything else: for example the fact I have to manage two asd chidlren so doubly challenging is not relevant to me getting a blue badge, only thechilds needs as such- and depresion would raise possibilty of Mum over stating issues (and cynically of dla,less likely to fight a decision)

this was fabricated yes, my gp and health visitor have confirmed nothing in my notes previously nor my sons say this as i never have had psychosis. I am asking for an apology etc i just was asking if i could sue on these grounds, its more than hurt feelings though it seems a lot of you dont see this, would you like to have it written in your childs notes that you had psychiatric illness that made you believe things that werent true and that you had caused your childs disability when you had done nothing of the kind, i was just asking for a little advice i wont bother troubling you all again obviously im not allowed to be hurt and want to do something about this without being accused of not saying thatnkyou quick enough and being selfish, i am thinking of the long term effects of this on my sons notes as legally it cannot be removed only added to or amended which doesnt help the fact that this has already been sent to dla and i think possibly the social services though i dont know this yet as couldnt get hold of the social worker. dont worry if i get this reaction i wont be back i just want the best for my son not a lecture on being sellfish or not saying thankyou for advice quick enough.

thanks peachy for seeing the feelings and problems surrounding this and not criticising like a few others have, and thanks to the others who helped too

jeeny just check the file first- it could be it was completely true about somene else and their slip / apperwork was oput into your Paediatric file (not the same as HV) by error.

Before you make any decisions, be certain what happened is all.

I am not clear why you need to sue?

If it was me I would be concentrating on correcting the errors. I did this quite easily recently. My notes said I smoked and drank daily whilst pregnant. Firsty, just not true. Secondly, would nullify my life insurance.

(back when I had my first scan the sonographer couldnt find an option for one drink since being pregnant and one cigarette in the last year, her options were either 0 or 1/day and she picked 1/day and everyone since copied that)

I wrote to the manager of the department. gave dates and names, within a few days my records were corrected and I'd been sent replacement pages for everything in my maternity notes that said I smoked and drank.

wouldnt you rather get the notes straightened out so that your son's records are correct and you can move on with him getting appropriate care rather than spending ages hell bent on sueing?

Of course you are allowed to be upset, nobody is disputing that.

But it is selfish to want to sue.