We were recently successful in a claim involving a child where a mother had desperately sought treatment for her child who was suffering ongoing headache which were dismissed by her local doctor.
Our client was an 11 year old girl who attended upon her General Practitioner with flu like symptoms which had been present for about one week at the time. She complained of a sore throat, headache, cough and yellow sputum however no fever was reported. She was advised by the General Practitioner to rest up, increase her fluid intake and to monitor if any temperature arises. She was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and urinary tract infection.
Three days later she again presents to her GP complaining of an ongoing cough, headache, rhinorrhea and decreased appetite. The GP advises her that her respiratory infection is viral and that her headaches are aggravated by her lack of sleep and send her home on paracetamol.
Our client is then left going back and forth to her local GP until she finally attends the Emergency Department of a Hospital in NSW on day 20. During her admission to hospital a CT scan of her brain is taken which identified a large epidural empyema which has developed due to the spread of inflammatory changes from the right frontal sinus. The infection was to such an extent that a craniotomy and sinus surgery was required.
The GP failed to diagnose her with sinusitis which resulted in the development of an epidural empyema. The general practitioner continued to treat our client’s symptoms with antibiotics and paracetamol following a diagnosis of upper respiratory infection and urinary tract infection.
After attending upon her general practitioner five times in a two week period, the general practitioner failed to properly assess and investigate our client’s ongoing presenting symptoms to be able to diagnose her with acute rhinorrhea sinusitis.
We were able to settle the matter during a private mediation where we were able to secure our client with damages to assist her with her ongoing treatment and care.
