£35,000 compensation following NHS’s failure to follow safe feeding plan that led to tragic loss of loved one

Mr S was admitted to a local hospital following a fall in which he injured his ribs.

He regrettably suffered from a number of other health conditions due to his advanced age and had been admitted to the same hospital the year before during which it was identified that he was not capable of swallowing solid foods. He was therefore given a specific feeding plan which strictly limited him to liquid and pureed foods.

Despite his previous feeding plan being in place, when admitted back to this same hospital following his fall his feeding plan was not followed and he was given solid foods. Such solid foods unfortunately resulted in him developing pneumonia which he unfortunately suffered with for a number of months. During this time he became increasingly frail and not long after being discharged sadly passed away.

His widow approached our firm and we were pleased to accept the case.

Expert evidence was sought from both a senior nurse and a senior speech and language therapist both of whom were of the view that his treatment was negligent and that not only should his previous feeding plan have been observed upon him being admitted to hospital, he should also have been subject to a new plan following admission due to his very advanced age and general poor health.

Furthermore, when he was being taken to hospital his widow made significant efforts to highlight his liquid foods feeding plan to the paramedics.

With the benefit of the nursing experts’ evidence a claim was submitted to the relevant trust who, following investigation, admitted negligence and that avoidable harm had been suffered.

Following extensive negotiations an excellent settlement was achieved at £35,000.

Solicitor James Winterbottom who dealt with the case comments:

“Although we were pleased to succeed for the family, and to achieve a settlement beyond what the majority of judges would have awarded at the trial, these cases do however highlight the limitations in our system being that in situations where the deceased person did not have people dependent upon them for money and services, such as often is the case with very elderly people, the compensation figures rarely reflect the impact of the loss upon the family. For instance, the Statutory Bereavement Award, being a fixed award that only a spouse/civil partner or parents of a child can claim, has been set by the government at an unreasonably low figure of £15,120 for many years now (worse, this payment has to be divided between all eligible persons e.g. between mother and father of a deceased minor). Whilst there are other types of compensation that can be claimed, it nevertheless remains my view that families of elderly people without dependants are not adequately compensated in our current system.

 Many times in my career clients have approached me telling me that other firms have rejected the case on the basis that the compensation figures will not be particularly high given that the deceased was a very elderly person without dependants. Our firm has always vehemently disagreed with this approach and we are proud to represent all victims of clinical negligence and secure the maximum compensation awards possible.”

 

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