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!!

[elephant]

Actually we really need a Care Plan in Place at the ER and Hospitals for Autoimmune diseases. We have care plans for COPD, kidney failure, congested heart failure,diabetes ....

[Sangye]

What do you mean by a Care Plan, Elephant?

[Doug]

Gwen- Wow! I'm sorry it came at considerable pain and discomfort to you, permanent scarring, but I am very happy you were able to establish a precedent in your country's laws, not to mention tangible changes in the medical care system of your country. In a way, you climbed Mt. Everest right along with our Cindy! Good for you! How will this affect laws related to this sort of issue within the EU? Will people in each country have to take cases to their respective high courts, or do precedents in any member country's courts have legal status within the rest of the countries in the EU? Anyway, good for you! Good for you!

[elephant]

If they had a Care Plan for WG- This is a made up one ...

1. Lab work to check CRP, ESR,ANCA, WBC, CMP, Creatinine...
2. CT of lungs if having increased Shortness of breath...
3. Check kidneys ( 24 hour urine/ blood work)
4. Head to Toe assessment.....
When I visit the ER the doctors are clueless and some of the primary doctors really don't know what to do....they seem lost..

[Sangye]

I've been lucky with hospital ER's. The local one in Flagstaff (AZ) was amazing. It was a regional trauma center. They knew exactly what to do when I came in for the first 2.5 yrs of Wegs. JHU ER has done a good job, too. Any of my ER docs routinely do everything on your list.

If your hospital doesn't, I think it's a great idea to push for a Care Plan.

Because my complications are so...complicated, even doing the routine things on the list doesn't yield straightforward answers a lot of the time. For example, I can have hemorrhaging lungs and my ESR and CRP are normal, pulse oxygen is 100%, lungs are clear, and hemoglobin/hematocrit are still within range.

[elephant]

I need to call the hospital and ask them, because they are "lost"! I could even suggest what they need or they will of course have to look into it. Once I have my surgery...I will ask the nurse's if they even heard of WG? Then I will go from there.
I am glad to hear Sangye, that your hospital is good at checking WG out.

[moyan]

Hi El, Langley memorial must be quite good also, 1 day, but then again I had 50% kidneyfailure in 3 months, was in for some odd feeling and losing it, and that must have helped. They knew it was very acute. Hopefully it made a red flag in the ER.

[Jack]

Crash a plane and they have an enquiry to see if lessons can be learned to prevent it from happening again. Crash a patient and they try to hush it up!

[elephant]

Jack, there is a hush policy...but once in a while you do stumble on a honest doctor.....We had a Surgeon who did a below the knew amputation on the wrong leg! The patient never sued him! Obviously the surgeon could not hide that one!

[Lightwarrior]

I am smiling inside and out. You have made me very proud, doing the right thing is not easy I admire your courage.

[Lola]

Hi Moyan. The lab tech or person helping in the lab is wrong about urine specimens. They give a lot of information about how the kidneys are working.

[jola57]

OMG elephant, it mirrors a case here in Canada, Ontario where a oncology surgeon performed 3 mastectomies (breast removal) on healthy breasts, She misread the xrays. However she is definetly being sued.

[jola57]

moyan she must be a new lab tech. Urine is a benchmark test for both bladder (ie. blood) and kidneys (ie creatinine, protein)

[moyan]

Thanks, I will immidiatly alert gp. Had a feeling there was more to it, thanks to reading here.

[Col 23]

Thats interesting. I was about to have a mascetomy until they discovered it was WG. Told it was stage 4 breast cancer. Lumps all gone in the breast now. If I hadnt nearly gone blind thats what would have happened.
cheers Col 23