In this matter, our client presented to an emergency department of an NSW public hospital with a swollen and infected left arm, and fever. Our client’s left arm abscess was drained, and he was provided with intravenous antibiotics for only a few days before he was discharged with a prescription for oral antibiotics.
Following the above, our client presented to the emergency department on numerous occasions with worsening symptoms and was eventually transferred to another public hospital for urgent care.
Our client suffered significant injuries as a result of the infection including sepsis with organ failure, and a spinal cord infraction.
Concerned about his treatment, our client approached Gerard Malouf & Partners to investigate a potential medical negligence claim. Medical negligence specialist, Ray Abbas handled his case, and sought and obtained supportive independent expert opinion that the decision to discharge our client after only a few days with oral antibiotics was unreasonable. The expert opined that our client should have been kept in hospital and treated with intravenous antibiotics for at least 2 weeks. Had this had happened, the expert opined that our client would have avoided sepsis and the spinal cord infarction.
It was decided that the best option for our client to reach a positive outcome would be to enter into settlement negotiations between the parties by way of a mediation. Mr Abbas and his team, including an expert barrister, negotiated a settlement of $350,000.
At Gerard Malouf and Partners we pride ourselves on assisting those who are mistreated, misdiagnosed and inadequately cared for by the health system. We are highly specialised and focussed medical negligence lawyers with our firm being small enough to care intimately for our clients, but large enough to have the solid, financial, medical and expert resources our clients need to match the big insurers we fight every day.
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.
While negligence can include misconduct in a variety of circumstances, malpractice is reserved for professionals who fall grossly short of their obligations — and harm others in the process. As a result, malpractice is often called “professional negligence”. If a licensed professional (such as a doctor, lawyer, or accountant) fails to provide the accepted standard of care and subsequently causes harm to the plaintiff, this form of negligence may be known as malpractice.
Medical malpractice is specifically used in reference to medical workers who have committed acts of negligence.
Demonstrating that a doctor fell short of their duty of care can be a challenging process. While most doctors try their best to correctly diagnose conditions and provide timely medical treatment, they can’t always be right. In every state, protections are in place to shield practitioners from some litigation. These give practitioners peace of mind on the job and protect hospitals that are doing their best with limited resources. However, these laws also set the bar for receiving compensation incredibly high.
A delay in treatment is any situation where a patient isn’t provided the care they need to recover or improve their condition in a timely manner. While, generally, waiting a few extra days for an appointment will have no tangible impact on the outcome of a treatment, delaying treatment can sometimes impact the severity of an illness or even mean the difference between life and death.
The legislation states that you must make your claim within three years of the injury occurring. For diseases and disorders that do not show symptoms immediately, you have three years from the date you become aware of the injury and its origin.
Furthermore, you are required to send a written notice to the people or organisations that you are making the claim against to inform them you intend to pursue proceedings.
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