About GP Negligence Claims
Your GP is usually your first port of call when you don’t feel well. Most patients place ultimate trust in their GPs, and take their word for it, if they are reassured that there is nothing to worry about or that no tests that need to be done.
GPs have to cover a vast range of medical conditions. There is no doubt that GPs are under more pressure now than ever, with 10-minute slots for patient appointments, placing pressure on GPs to herd their patients in and out as quickly as possible. However, all GPs are still under a duty to always provide a reasonable standard of care to every patient.
There are countless GPs who provide really good (not just reasonable) care, but unfortunately there are always bad apples in every basket. Medical negligence claims are frequently brought against those GPs who fail to provide reasonable care resulting in the following:
- Over-treatment.
- Delay in diagnosis.
- Failure to refer early enough (or at all) for further investigation.
- Failure to examine a patient.
- Failure to undertake basic tests (e.g. blood, urine tests).
Most patients receive reasonable care. Unfortunately, mistakes are made. We see shocking errors made by GP in our daily practice at Medical Solicitors. We have dealt with many cases against GPs.
Examples of the kind of issues we deal with are as follows:
- A GP failing to examine a female patient, and the GP failed to make a referral to a gynaecologist, causing a long delay in diagnosis of vulval cancer. The delay directly led to the patient’s death. We are aware that another patient, under the same GP’s care, was not offered basic tests for his symptoms, as a result of which there was a delayed diagnosis of prostate cancer, and he has also died as a result.
- A GP misdiagnosing a child with an infective brain abscess, as having a viral infection.
- We have investigated various cases against GPs for prescribing psychiatric medications (such as benzodiazepines, for example, Diazepam, Oxazepam, Lorazepam, ) for too long, causing their patients to become addicted. Also, some GPs take patients off psychiatric medications too quickly, causing them to suffer from severe withdrawal reactions that mean the patient cannot cope with their daily life during their withdrawal.
- A GP failing to refer a female, also a heavy smoker, with mouth ulcers, for further investigation, resulting in a long delay in diagnosis of mouth cancer. She now faces complex surgery, facial reconstruction, and a long rehabilitation process.
- A GP misdiagnosing a female patient, who was suffering from acute appendicitis, despite three visits to the surgery. The 56-year-old lady died.
- A GP misdiagnosing an infected lymph node in the groin, as a hernia. The male patient, in his 40s, ended up nearly losing his life, as the infection spread and he suffered from complications of a “flesh-eating bug”. He underwent surgery and intensive care and was left unable to work, permanently disabled and dependent upon his wife for care.
Do contact our friendly team of specialist lawyers at Medical Solicitors. We conduct most of our Clinical and Medical Negligence claims under ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreements, also known as Conditional Fee Agreements. So, our clients do not have to worry about how they can possibly afford to pay for the cost of GP negligence claims. You have nothing to lose in speaking to us.
