The last couple of weeks have been completely hectic.
I recently settled a large claim on behalf of a family, not just one claimant but three. All the challenging aspects of pursuing a clinical negligence claim tripled!
I was instructed in July 2003 in relation to this claim to investigate whether a hospital in Liverpool had failed to appropriately screen a family for Hereditary Non Polyposis Colorectal Cancer, a hereditary form of bowel cancer.
Unfortunately after the family made a number of requests to be screened, and after being reassured they did not need to be, the three daughters all developed bowel cancer requiring extensive surgery and chemotherapy. Very sadly one of the daughters died leaving four young children behind.
I was instructed by the two living sisters and the deceased’s husband and four children. For me this case posed very complex problems, far more than in my usual cases. Both for the family and I it became a mission to obtain answers.
The case was extremely tragic and very draining to work on nearly every day for the last four years. Finally in May 2007 I and the defendants solicitors, and senior experience counsel on both sides, met for a round table settlement meeting. The Defendants acknowledged the case was both “tragic and sensitive.” By this stage the family had obtained answers to the main questions as to what went wrong and we were able negotiate a very high value settlement of each of the three claims.
I write about the above as I have often thought during the case whether solicitors have a wider responsibility in a case like this to ensure that the broader public understands the problems that arise in screening cases and the importance of being vigilant in pursuing optimum health care.
The independent colorectal expert in this case, during our first conference with him, raised an interesting but scary thought when he said this family maybe just the tip of the iceberg, meaning there maybe lots of families out there who have slipped through the screening net over the years.
There is one message I would like to get out to people following my involvement in this case and that is “Know and be interested in your family history, ask questions about not just your immediate family but the wider family (related aunts and uncles) who probably we never speak about, and if you think there is a distinct pattern forming over the generations then go with this information to your GP and ask the questions, and keep asking until you get the answers that you need. If the GP doesn’t know the answers then ask for a hospital referral and make sure that you get answers. Also use the Internet, as there is a great deal of helpful information available at a click of a button. Finally don’t forget if things do go wrong there are specialist solicitors to advise families such as the family referred to above.
As they say “Knowledge is the key”.