Missed Red Flags and Compensation for Cauda Equina Syndrome
If a medical professional has missed your red flag symptoms of cauda equina syndrome, causing you to experience a delay in the initiation of emergency treatment, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
The urgency of cauda equina compression diagnosis
The diagnosis and surgical treatment of cauda equina compression is a matter of emergency. Medical failings which cause this process to be slowed down, resulting in a worse patient outcome - sometimes a catastrophic multi-disability outcome - may justify a claim for compensation.
If a patient attends their GP or Accident and Emergency facility with leg or back pain and one or more red flag symptoms of this debilitating condition, an emergency referral for an MRI scan may be appropriate. A delay in making a referral may constitute the difference between a good outcome and permanent disability.
Recognising the red flags
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), red flag symptoms of cauda equina compression can include the following:
- Difficulty urinating
- Altered sensation in the perianal, perineal or genital regions (the saddle area)
- Symptoms in both legs such as weakness or difficulty with ankle flexing
- Loss of sensation of needing to defecate
- Sexual dysfunction
A failure to assess the patient or a failure to recognise the significance of these red flags may cause a life-changing delay.
A failure to provide a patient with warnings of these red flags, thereby failing to ensure that the patient attends hospital immediately should the symptoms develop, may also be regarded as negligent.
Claiming compensation
Missing the red flags can leave a patient with appalling disability in the form of double incontinence, loss of mobility and loss of sexual function.
The impact on their physical and psychological health as well as on their quality of life can be devastating, affecting not only the individual concerned but their family, too.
A successful compensation claim would address the consequences of the negligence on the health and quality of life of the patient. The financial losses caused by the outcome of the negligence, such as a loss of income or the costs of personal care or equipment, would be incorporated in the claim insofar as they had been caused by the negligence.
Speak to a legal specialist
Glynns Solicitors, specialists in medical negligence law, can offer a wealth of expertise in cauda equina syndrome claims. After years of supporting the victims of negligence in the treatment of cauda equina syndrome, we are fully conversant with the distress which this shocking condition can cause.
Contact us today to talk to a solicitor, free of charge, about the possibility of making a claim.
Please call us on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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