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Woman receives $3,450,000 after hospital delayed treatment of spinal condition

Case Overview
  • Following an accident and delayed treatment from a rural hospital, our client became paraplegic.
  • Our lawyers brought in experts to review our client’s injury and determine the cause.
  • After negotiations, we settled for over $3 Million in Compensation.

This matter involved the conduct of a rural hospital in NSW. Our client presented with severe back pain following an accident.

The hospital conducted some preliminary tests and examinations but did not organise an urgent transfer to a major hospital for immediate spinal surgery.

As a result, our client suffered a catastrophic injury to her spine and is now a paraplegic.

“Our expert medical negligence lawyers have the knowledge and skills to reach the best outcome for anyone who has suffered as a result of sub-standard or negligent treatment from any type of medical practitioner."

Ray Abbas
Our Approach

Our client approached Gerard Malouf and Partners to enquire about whether or not she was entitled to compensation for her treatment by the hospital.

Ray Abbas, Accredited Personal Injury Specialist, was of the view that this claim had merit and began to gather evidence in support of our client’s claim.
Mr Abbas proceeded to brief an expert emergency department physician to provide their opinion on whether or not the conduct of the hospital in their treatment of our client was in accordance within reasonable medical standards.

Ultimately, the evidence was conclusive that the hospital had unreasonably delayed in transferring our client to a hospital that had specialist spinal surgical facilities and that this was inconsistent with peer professional standards and therefore negligence was established.

In addition, we obtained evidence from a neurologist who confirmed that our client suffered serious adverse effects from the improper and delayed treatment.

Following instructions from our client, commenced the matter in court and organised a mediation with the Defendant with the hopes of reaching a settlement that was acceptable to our client.

The Result

After negotiations, Mr Abbas was able to settle this case for $3,450,000

Ray Abbas

Partner
Ray Abbas from the Parramatta office was fantastic! Obtaining a great settlement exceeding our expectations. Highly recommend him.
Frequently Asked Questions

More Information About Medical Negligence Claims

Overall, to win a favourable judgment, you must be able to prove four elements of medical negligence including demonstrating the practitioner had a duty of care, that they breached said duty of care, that there is clear causation between such breach and the harm suffered, and finally what damaged have occured.

Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that another in the same position would prudently exercise. The harm caused by negligence is considered to be due to carelessness, rather than a specific intent or determination to cause harm.

Notably, the concept of negligence isn’t limited to the medical field and can be committed in any number of situations. For example, a driver of public transport could cause an accident through negligence. The harm caused to persons involved in the accident could be charged under the law, assuming it can be proven that most other drivers in the same circumstance would have been more prudent and avoided an accident.

Learn about our medical negligence claim services and how our lawyers can help you.

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About Us
Gerard Malouf & Partners have provided friendly, experienced legal advice to communities across Australia for over 35 years. Our Personal Injury Lawyers have taken on ten’s of thousands of cases and we are proud to have won billions of dollars for our clients.
Lawyers
Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.
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Meet the diverse and dynamic team of compensation lawyers and supporting staff that have made this all happen below. Our multi-lingual team can discuss your claims in Arabic, Assyrian, Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Serbian, Croatian, Armenian, Mandarin, Hindi, Punjabi or Malayalam.

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