The Plaintiff’s medical negligence claim relates to a failure to diagnose kidney difficulties leading to a staghorn calculus kidney stone, resulting in blocked renal drainage and subsequent infection. Berwick Solicitors represented the Plaintiff in this case. As a result of this failure and delay in diagnosis irreparable damage was caused to our client’s kidney, ultimately requiring emergency nephrectomy.
Our client presented to her GP complaining of a kidney difficulty on about six occasions. The GP failed to properly examine our client and failed to have adequate regard for the Plaintiff’s symptoms over a protracted period, which symptoms included back pain, fatigue, night sweats, loss of appetite, and weight loss. Expert reporting was procured by Berwick Solicitors from a consultant urologist (as well as from a GP specialist), who opined that the GP breached the duty of care owed to our client in failing to recognise that the symptoms presented warranted a referral to a specialist. In his opinion, the GP should have referred our client to hospital for scanning – such as ultra sounds, CT scans etc. In his view, this would have identified the kidney stone, which could have been treated more conservatively, certainly prior to the onset of an infection. Ultimately, our client’s kidney could have been preserved.
As part of this medical negligence case, we assessed the loss to our client, inclusive of lost earnings, future medical expenses and the medical consequences of losing her kidney.
The Defendant accepted fault for the injury and ultimately the case settled prior to the trial date for damages plus costs.
