Case study: gauze left inside during surgery

We received a call from a Wiltshire man who wanted to make a medical negligence claim against the hospital that performed an operation to remove his appendix.

He remembers going to work in the morning, felling unusually tired and having a pain in his stomach. When he arrived at work he attended a welcome meeting for a new employee. Once the meeting had finished he went down to his car to grab some painkillers as the pain had moved to his right side and got progressively worse. But on his way to the car he vomited and then collapsed in the car park and two of his colleagues came to his assistance. He said that the pain was excruciating and overwhelming and they called for an ambulance.

The ambulance took him to a local accident and emergency department where he was examined and diagnosed with acute appendicitis. It was believed that his appendix had ruptured and he was rushed to surgery. While in surgery, doctors set to work to fix the internal damage that had been caused.

However, it was after the operation that the man really started to experience problems. He felt uncomfortable for an extended period of time and expressed his concern to his GP. The doctor felt that he was still very tender and had an unusual abdominal swelling. He sent him to the hospital for an X-ray and it was found that he had some gauze inside him. The only explanation was that doctors had committed medical negligence and left this inside his body when he had his appendix removed.

He had to undergo a second operation to remove the foreign object before he suffered any further personal injury to his internal organs. It took the man almost six months to recover enough to return to work, meaning that he had lost out on several months of full pay. He was advised by a friend to make a personal injury compensation claim against the hospital where he had his operation for the negligent act.

The friend gave him our phone number and he called to speak to our personal injury claim team. He spoke to Natasha and asked whether he would have a case against the company. She contacted our panel of personal injury solicitors and after looking at his medical notes and hospital records they agreed to take the case on under a no win, no fee agreement.

Natasha assured him that if he proceeded to pursue the case with YouClaim he would not be responsible for paying any fees, whether his case was a success or not, and that he would receive every penny of compensation awarded to him because neither YouClaim nor the personal injury solicitors that they are associated with believe in taking a cut for themselves.

He pursued the no win, no fee medical negligence claim against the hospital and the case was a success. The hospital admitted liability for his personal injuries and offered an out-of-court settlement. The man put this towards medical bills for treatment and paid off a loan that he had taken out to support him and his family while he was unable to work.

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