Even the most eminent doctors can make negligent mistakes and it is only right that patients who suffer should be compensated. In one case, a woman who endured months of needless anxiety and discomfort due to a diagnostic failure by a consultant gynaecologist was awarded substantial damages.
The High Court found that the consultant, who was in private practice, had breached the duty of care that he owed the woman in failing to diagnose during a consultation that a uterine fibroid had prolapsed through her cervix. She had to undergo a hysterectomy but that procedure was delayed for about six months due to the consultant’s error.
During that period the woman, who was in her 50s and had four children, had endured a number of distressing symptoms and had developed a generalised anxiety disorder. Her damages were agreed at £20,000.