The wife and two young children of a man who died after a heart attack have reached a £975,000 settlement with a Wakefield hospital trust that incorrectly discharged him.
The 36-year-old man had visited Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield with chest complaints a month before his death, when an ECG showed significant abnormalities and he should have been referred to the care of a cardiologist. Instead, he was given reassurance and discharged. The man later suffered a heart attack at his home and died.
Wilkin Chapman, the largest law firm in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, represented the man’s widow and their two young children. With the support of the firm’s medical negligence team, it was identified and subsequently accepted by the defendant, that the man should have been admitted to hospital and given blood-thinning medication. He would then have undergone an angiogram, followed by angioplasty. This treatment would have avoided his death and he would have had only a modestly reduced life expectancy.
At a round table meeting with Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, which operates Pinderfields Hospital, the team successfully reached a compromise settlement for £975,000. This was subsequently approved by the County Court in Leeds, bringing an end to the claim.
Jonathan Baker, a partner within Wilkin Chapman’s medical negligence team, said the settlement would go some way towards helping the family move forward with their lives after the avoidable and devastating tragedy.
He said: “This was an absolutely devastating case for the family, particularly when it became clear how easy this would have been to avoid. Whilst we were able to help the family to achieve a suitable outcome, it is hoped that lessons can be learned to prevent such tragic circumstances occurring again.”
