A man injured when a blood clot was misdiagnosed as angina was awarded £13,000 in compensation.
By the time that pulmonary embolism was diagnosed, the clots had advanced to such a degree usually only found after death. This left the man traumatised by his ordeal of coming so close to death.
The claimant, a man in his 60s, sought the help of medical negligence expert, Matthew Brown of Medical Solicitors, to make a compensation claim for his injuries.
Case summary
The incident occurred during the height of the Covid pandemic in January 2021. The claimant ‘C’ went to the emergency department with chest pains. Following cardiac investigations, he was diagnosed with angina and sent home with GTN and aspirin to treat this.
Over the next week, C’s condition got progressively worse. His attacks of chest pain increased in severity and duration until he was taken back to hospital by an ambulance.
Here, a CTPA scan confirmed there were extensive blood clots in his lungs.
An emergency consultant wanted to admit C to the cardio-thoracic ward for monitoring. But this was during the Covid pandemic in the winter of 2021. The ward was full of patients with Covid 19 and the cardio-thoracic surgeon said there was ‘absolutely no way’ they would allow C to be admitted due to the condition of his lungs.
The level and degree of clots C had were very unusual and only usually seen on post-mortem examination. If he caught Covid on the ward, he would almost certainly die.
He was instead discharged home where he made a slow recovery. He suffered with fatigue for four months. He also experienced declining mental health over the following year, having been traumatised by coming so close to death during the pandemic. Thankfully, he avoided any long term injury to his lungs.
Litigation
Responding to a Letter of Claim, the defendant NHS Trust made only a minor admission of breach of duty but denied failing to consider a respiratory cause as a possible explanation for symptoms and failing to take a D-dimer blood test. Causation of injury was also denied.
Despite challenging the Defendant’s position, the Trust continued to deny the allegations and refuse compensation.
The parties agreed to the informal exchange of expert witness reports and, after further negotiation, the case settled in June 2024 for £13,000. This included £4,000 general damages for C’s pain and suffering, and £9,000 special damages for his financial losses.
