Negligence Case

[gwenllian111]

The first case of it's kind in the UK - I took legal action against the NHS, for failing to diagnose and treat a flare up of WG for 8 years, leading to severe subglottic stenosis and permenant scarring.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to the High Court in London and the NHS admitted full liability of negligence, personally apologised for the negligence, and have made changes within the hospital so that such mistakes are less likely to happen in the future to anyone else (ie. employing more nurses, better support structure for doctors etc).

Such an emotional and draining day, but a real result.

I also hope it has raised positive awareness of WG, and ultimately results in better treatment for patients in the future!

[JanW]

Gwen - I think that's wonderful, and I'm sorry it had to come to that. Are you pretty much done with the SS surgeries, or are they saying that you will have to do them for life (I think as you know the lasering has fallen out of favor in the US).

[elephant]

Gwen, so glad you won this case! This happens everyday and everywhere! How are you feeling these days?

[Sangye]

Gwen, so glad you stood up for what's right. Wherever it happens, negligent care must be addressed.

[Jack]

Fantastic result Gwen!

It crossed my mind at the time to try bringing a similar case, but I was not well enough to go through with it and it is now 25 years in the past and I'm still not up to taking it on! .

I did try to pursue the company that supplied a faulty lens implant that I had to have replaced, but they had gone broke and their insurers were in the USA so I decided to let that one go too.

[moyan]

Hi, super, Gwen. I just read that imuran should be taken a couple of months, so with my 2 years of pred and 1½ with imuran I should be pretty messed up inside.

[Sangye]

Hi Moyan, I don't know where you got that info about imuran. Many Weggies stay on it indefinitely-- for years. I've never seen any recommendation that its use should be limited to a couple of months. One less thing to worry about?

[moyan]

Thank you Sangye. I read it here, but ......Big relief though, was ready to throw a pie on my doc, but he is safe for now.
I have a question though, last time at lab, I talked with the attendant about a urinesample to check kidneys and she said they can only read bladderproblems by that. Is that so?

[jola57]

Great news Gwen, for Weggies I think it is a first globewide. I wonder if you sued the doc or docs, hospital and insurance. Is your case available on the internet? I think that this is a milestone for not just Weggies but for all autoimmune diseases. We need better screening techniques and better communication between docs and patients all around. We all need a whollop of gratitude to you for your perseverence. This win will set a presedence for all future complaints and litigations.

[moyan]

Ditto, Jola. Perfectly put!!