Jonathan Zimmern succeeds in medical negligence claim against Lewisham Hospital | Fieldfisher
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Case Study

Jonathan Zimmern succeeds in medical negligence claim against Lewisham Hospital

Jonathan Zimmern
Natasha was the victim of medical negligence after a series of delays and oversights caused her to undergo an unnecessary hysterectomy following the birth of her second child at Lewisham Hospital. She contacted Jonathan Zimmern, medical negligence barrister at Fieldfisher, who settled her claim for £40,000.

Natasha had a routine pregnancy until she was admitted to Lewisham hospital at 35 weeks with pre-eclampsia. The labour proceeded quickly and her son was delivered, healthy, on 21 March 2010. Shortly after the birth Natasha began to experience excruciating pain in her abdomen and began to bleed. Despite raising concerns about the pain on several occasions, her complaints were not taken seriously.

Over the hours that followed the pain continued and the blood loss increased. She was eventually taken to theatre for a laparotomy to investigate the source of the bleeding under the care of a junior doctor.  Despite the obvious severity of the situation, and despite being telephoned on several occasions, the consultant on-duty did not arrive to perform the operation until shortly before 10pm, some 5 hours after Natasha arrived in theatre.

Natasha regained consciousness in the intensive care unit and was very upset to discover that a hysterectomy had been performed and that she would be unable to have any further children. She remained in hospital for observation for a number of days and became increasingly upset by the lack of explanation as to what had happened.  She was eventually allowed home on the 29th March.

Natasha felt angry and frustrated about the way that she had been treated by the registrar and consultants at the hospital but the full extent of Lewisham Hospital's negligence was not yet known to her. She met with a representative of the hospital who explained that her hysterectomy was an unfortunate event caused by a quick labour and that by the time the cause of the bleeding was identified, it was too late to save her uterus. The hospital’s response made no reference to the delay between her arrival in theatre at 16.50 and the time that the repair occurred, at approximately 22.00.

Natasha felt angry and disappointed with the hospital for snatching away the opportunity for her to complete her family. She contacted Jonathan Zimmern to pursue a medical negligence claim. Jonathan obtained expert evidence from an Obstetrician which confirmed Natasha's concerns that the delays in her treatment had led to an unnecessary hysterectomy. Jonathan contacted Lewisham hospital who eventually admitted liability and the case was settled for £40,000.

Contact us

For further information about birth injuries to the mother and clinical negligence claims, please call Jonathan Zimmern on 03304606779 or email jonathan.zimmern@fieldfisher.com.

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