Medical Negligence Cases

It is no laughing matter when medical negligence claims are brought against doctors, hospitals, surgeons and other medical staff, but sometimes the sheer level of incompetency or the size of the error is mind boggling. It is a shame that, in this day and age, errors like this can still occur.

Here we look at six of the most amazing, scary and weird (and admittedly mostly American) medical negligence cases we can find. In some of them, the victim cannot even claim for medical negligence compensation due to certain laws in the States. Rest assured, in the UK each and every case would be as open and shut as it gets.

1) Antibiotic Treatment Leads to Deafness

One patient was treated with antibiotics via intravenous drip for a diarrhea complaint. However, the drip was left in for too long and the antibiotics permanently damaged the nerves in her ears, rendering her permanently deaf. To compound matters, the doctor in question recognised that the IV had been in place too long...yet failed to have it removed! In the UK, an open and shut case. However, in the State of Texas the woman cannot claim for medical negligence compensation as the laws have made it unprofitable for a medical lawyers to take on such cases.

2) Healthy Lung Removed

A man complained of chest pains to his GP, was referred to the NHS and was mistakenly diagnosed with lung cancer, subsequently having his lung removed. The problem was he did not have cancer and a perfectly healthy lung was removed by mistake, leaving the man frail and out of breath after minimal exercise or exertion. Despite receiving no explanation or apology, the man has only recently decided to claim for compensation and hopes to settle out of court.

3) 90 Minute Procedure Takes Six Hours

When a man went to a Medical Centre for a second liposuction treatment he was assured by the surgeon that the procedure would only take around 90 minutes. Instead, the patient had to suffer six hours at the hands of the surgeon who was described as being impaired and falling asleep on the job. Remarkably, the other operating staff noted this but did nothing to stop him, before OR during the operation. The surgeon in question has thankfully now been sacked and is being being sued for medical negligence.

4) Man Burned Undergoing Liver Transplant

That one, from Canada, is truly horrifying. While undergoing a liver transplant operation, a man's heart stopped. In the rush to resuscitate him disinfectant alcohol on his neck and shoulder was ignited. The man awoke to find he had suffered serious burns and to make it worse, the liver transplant, unsurprisingly, failed. He is currently making a medical negligence claim and should receive some kind of compensation.

5) Wrong Limb Amputated

If you've heard of a medical negligence case before, chances are it would have been along these lines. A Tampa man went into hospital to have a leg amputated and, thanks to a long line of mistakes and cock ups, the wrong leg was removed. The surgical team involved even realised the error half way through the operation but by then it was too late and the limb had to be removed. The victim made successful medical negligence claims and won $1 million in compensation.

6) Botched Vasectomy

Finally, one that will make every man wince in terror and sympathise completely. A man decided to have a routine vasectomy after his wife fell pregnant with their fourth child. Despite being anaethetised, he felt excruciating pain during the operation. His surgeon, however, continued working until the operation had to be stopped when the man began vomiting and rolled off the table. One of the man's testicles turned black and doubled in size shortly after. Eventually both testicles had to be removed thanks to the botched surgery by the surgeon. The man successfully sued for $1.76m in medical negligence compensation.

All of these are, of course, worse case scenarios, experienced only by the truly unlucky. That said, there are, unfortunately, a lot of cases of medical negligence that are far less serious but no less distressing for the victims.