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All patients being kept at hospital until they recover from personal injuries or those who are well enough to be allowed back home should receive the best care possible, but occasionally individuals find that they have cause to make a medical negligence claim.
There are many patients in hospitals who are only there for the day after having had minor operations, but some are under almost constant care from medical staff.
As well as this, there are others who are permanent residents in a healthcare facility because they need so much medical attention and specialist equipment at their side, that going home is not practical.
Some of these patients have specific needs and staff should be trained to deal with all medical requirements of an individual. A failure to tend to those needs correctly could result in a patient becoming unwell or even dying.
One of the needs that some people in hospital may have, is to be fed "nil-by-mouth". This simply means that they are not to be given fluids or fed orally, either because they are being readied for a treatment, such as surgery, which requires them to have an empty stomach or that they must receive the nutrients they need through a stomach-tube, or intravenously.
If a member of staff was to feed a nil-by-mouth patient by giving them food or drink in the usual way, then this could end with the medical negligence victim suffering because of the mistake.
A news story at the beginning of February 2011 reported that a 40-year-old man, who had been recovering well from surgery but who had been deemed a nil-by-mouth patient, was a casualty of medical negligence after a nurse did not realise his nil-by-mouth-status.
Having been fed some pudding by the staff member, food got into one of the patient's lungs, and he developed aspiration pneumonia resulting in his death. A medical law expert said of the case, "This was a basic and avoidable error that had catastrophic consequences for [the victim] and his family.
"[My personal injury firm] have repeatedly called for improvements in safety standards in medical care and will continue to campaign for the victims we represent until simple mistakes like these are eradicated."
Nil-by-mouth patients usually have a sign above their beds which clearly reads "Nil-by-mouth," however, cases of staff ignoring these warnings still occur. Medical employees should be aware of anything which is put in place to alert them about how to care for a particular patient.
However, a concerning news report was published in April 2010, which stated that many NHS staff did not understand basic medical terms.
According to the reportage, some NHS hospitals employ workers from as many as 70 different countries, and despite the individuals having been sent on 10-week courses in order for them to learn English, some have not been taught important and common terms used in hospitals.
The news report stated that amongst the phrases not understood by foreign staff were "nil-by-mouth", "doing the rounds" and "bleeping a doctor".
Making a medical negligence claim
If you, or a member of your family, have suffered personal injury due to poor staff training in a hospital at which you were treated, then our expert solicitors could help you receive 100% compensation. Contact us by phone on 0800 10 757 95 or fill in our short online claim form today.
