Emergency Care Failings and Compensation for Cauda Equina Syndrome
If medical professionals have failed to provide the emergency care essential to responding to cauda equina compression, it may be possible to make a claim for compensation for the impact of that negligence.
Cauda equina as a medical emergency
Cauda equina syndrome can be a medical emergency. If a patient is experiencing the early symptoms, it is essential that surgery is undertaken to decompress the nerves at the earliest possible moment. A delay at any point in the process of diagnosis or in the initiation of surgery can allow the compression to increase, thereby putting the patient at risk of greater loss of lower body function which may prove permanent.
Urgency in diagnosis
A prompt diagnosis is key to achieving the best outcome in cauda equina syndrome. An MRI scan is a crucial aspect of this process and a failure by medical professionals to make a timely referral for an MRI scan may lead to a worse outcome for the patient. In these circumstances, the relevant medical professional may be regarded as having provided negligent care and it may be appropriate to make a claim for compensation for the long-term consequences of that negligence.
Emergency surgery
Equally, once diagnosis of cauda equina compression has been confirmed, surgery may well be a matter of emergency, meaning that it should be initiated as soon as possible and certainly within hours rather than days.
A failure by medical professionals to recognise this urgency mat be regarded as negligent. If the patient suffers a deterioration in symptoms in the intervening period between diagnosis and the delayed start of surgery, leading to worse disability than should have been the case with timely surgery, it may be possible to make a claim for compensation.
The consequences of a failure to recognise the emergency nature of treatment for this appalling nerve condition can be catastrophic, devastating an individual’s quality of life and causing significant and life-changing financial losses.
Claiming compensation
If delays in the diagnosis and treatment of cauda equina compression have caused a patient to suffer a worse outcome than would have# been the case with a medical recognition of the emergency nature of this condition, the patient may be able to claim compensation.
Contact Glynns Solicitors to discuss your experience with an experienced medical negligence solicitor. It may be appropriate to make a claim for the impact of the negligence.
Please call us on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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