Compensation secured after a heart attack

Juanita Cumberland, specialist clinical negligence lawyer, successfully obtained £180,000 in compensation for a man who suffered a delay in receiving treatment for a heart attack.

In 2019, the claimant, aged 54, suffered a heart attack. His family called an ambulance. The ambulance staff assessed the claimant and decided that he needed to be taken to hospital. The family asked that the claimant be taken to a hospital which had a specialist heart unit. The ambulance staff agreed. However the ambulance staff took the claimant to a different hospital which did not have a specialist heart unit. He was admitted to the non-specialist hospital (evening of day one).

The claimant’s heart condition worsened and he suffered increasing pain. He needed to be transferred to the hospital with the specialist heart unit. But due to delays this transfer did not take place until the morning of day three. He should have been taken to this specialist hospital in the first place. After his transfer he was taken to the catheter lab for angioplasty treatment but this was unsuccessful and it was too late for him to be given important heart attack medication called GP IIB/IIIA inhibitors.

Following the heart attack of 2019 the claimant suffered from symptoms including breathlessness and tiredness. He could no longer run or walk long distances and the tiredness negatively affected his performance in his demanding sales’ role.

The claimant approached Thomson Snell & Passmore to investigate his medical negligence claim on a no win no fee basis.

Court proceedings were brought against both West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust admitted that the claimant should have been transferred to them earlier but otherwise disputed liability.

At a settlement meeting, one month before trial, the case settled for £180,000 in damages.
Juanita Cumberland specialises in clinical negligence cases. If you would like to ask Juanita a question about a potential case, or if you have a general query about any clinical negligence matter, contact Juanita at Thomson Snell & Passmore solicitors on 01892 701380 in confidence. We offer no win no fee agreements on the vast majority of our clinical negligence and personal injury cases.