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Woman in her 60s sustained an injury to her sciatic nerve following a varicose vein surgery

Case Overview
  • Our client was a woman in her 60s preparing to retire , when she sustained an injury to her sciatic nerve following a varicose vein surgery.
  • Our team gathered all clinical notes from the hospital and other health care providers for our client. We also sought the opinion of a qualified vascular surgeon, one of Australia’s best neurologists, and an Occupational Therapist to explore every aspect of our client’s damages.
  • We were able to settle our client’s matter out of court for $317,000. 

Our client was a woman in her 60s who sustained an injury to her sciatic nerve following a varicose vein surgery in 2018. At the time of her injury, our client had been planning to relocate to the country, with plans to reduce her work hours, enjoy country life and eventually retire. As a result of her injuries, she was unable to continue to work and relocate as she had planned.

Our client felt she had been cheated of the right to enjoy her upcoming retirement and as a result, she called Gerard Malouf & Partners for more information and to see if she had a claim.

Our Approach

Having spent countless hours working on cases involving nerve injuries arising from various surgical procedures, and having had numerous discussions with top experts over the years, we knew that claims involving a nerve injury can be difficult to prove.

We opened a file on our client’s behalf and requested all of her clinical notes from her surgeon and other health care providers. We  scrutinised every page of her clinical history, making careful note of any evidence that our client had suffered a nerve injury. We then drafted a qualifying letter incorporating all of the evidence we had identified which suggested that our client had suffered a nerve injury.

We qualified a vascular surgeon and one of Australia’s best neurologists to provide an opinion. We also explored every aspect of our client’s damages and qualified an Occupational Therapist who was asked to comment on past and future need for care and equipment.

The surgeon relied upon evidence that damage to the sciatic and other nearby nerves is a known complication of varicose vein surgery and claimed he was not liable for our client’s injuries. Despite this, we were able to settle our client’s matter out of court for $317,000. Our client was able to avoid the stress of going to court and could focus on enjoying her retirement.

The Result

We were able to settle our client’s matter out of court for $317,000. Saving her the stress of going to court, and allowing her to focus on enjoying her retirement.

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

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.

Overall, to win a favorable judgment, you must be able to prove Duty, Breach and Damages.

If you have been injured or an existing condition has got worse following a medical procedure, or even just a visit to the doctor, then you may have been the victim of medical negligence and you may be eligible to make medical negligence claims against the professional who caused your injury.

If you can first show that you have suffered harm, and secondly, that a medical professional failed in their duty of care towards you then you may be entitled to compensation.

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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.
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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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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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