If you visit a hospital following an accident, it is more than likely that your first attendance will be at the Accident and Emergency department. These hospital departments deal with a vast number of patients and wide ranging acute conditions every year.

The Accident and Emergency (A&E) staff need to be well trained and up to date because medicine is a rapidly changing environment. Hospitals have to have continual risk assessments to ensure that the knowledge of their staff, the equipment they use and the medication they prescribe are as up to date as possible.

Due to the sheer numbers of visitors to A&E departments, careless mistakes leading to compensation claims are regularly reported in the press. These are high pressure departments but you are still entitled to a proper standard of care.

Common Types of Accident and Emergency Claims

• Failing to examine a patient properly or at all.
• Failing to refer for x-rays or misreading them.
• Missing obvious symptoms like those leading to meningitis.
• Sending patients home who should have been admitted to hospital.
• Late diagnosis.
• Failing to spot that someone has had a heart attack or a punctured lung.
• Missing obvious fractures.

Recent Cases for Compensation

Whilst the vast majority of visits to A & E departments across the country have a satisfactory outcome, there are unfortunately some cases that do not end happily.

In a case that settled out of court in 2010, a man had visited an A & E department with a jaw injury sustained during an epileptic fit. He had a history of seizures. The notes confirmed that he had a laceration to his chin, but no X-ray was carried out. He subsequently visited his GP after problems with chewing and his GP possibly reassured by the visit to A&E prescribed anti- inflammatory tablets. His condition progressed to the extent that he could barley open his jaw and was then referred as an urgent case to another hospital where he was diagnosed with a fracture. He brought an action against the hospital for failure to carry out an X-ray and his case settled out of court for £20,000.

In another case decided earlier in 2011, there was a visit to an A&E department for an injury to the leg. Soft tissue injuries were diagnosed but it subsequently transpired that there had been a fracture. The hospital admitted that the fracture should have been diagnosed and treated and compensation of £2,500 was awarded for the short delay of 9 days that would have added to the pain and suffering.

What Can I claim for?

This will depend on the nature of the injury, but in the event of a successful claim, there will be compensation for the injury itself, the pain and suffering, any loss of earnings, nursing care costs and in the more serious cases, costs of alterations to accommodation, cost of special equipment and the like. Compensation can run into thousands and in some cases millions of pounds.

Time Limits

Any claim has to be brought within 3 years of the date of the alleged negligence and you should discuss what that date might be with your solicitor.

Making an Accident and Emergency Negligence Compensation Claim

If you feel that you have sustained injury as a result of the negligence of an A&E department then you may be able to pursue a claim for compensation. You should ensure that you have a specialist solicitor acting on your behalf.