An NHS Trust in Northern Ireland has settled a mother´s claim for a failure to treat DVT at the start of a hearing at the Crown Court in Belfast.
The unnamed mother from Belfast gave birth to her first child at the Ulster Hospital in June 2009 at the age of thirty-five. Soon after the birth of her child, she developed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and when she attended the hospital´s A&E Department was told that the swelling and tenderness in her leg was due to hormone activity.
The woman had two further children, and on each occasion had to undergo surgery subsequent to each delivery to relieve the symptoms of DVT. She now has to wear support tights, finds it exhausting to walk for longer than fifteen minutes and has difficulty ascending stairs. She also lives with the fear that if a blood clot develops in her leg, the leg may have to be amputated.
After speaking with a solicitor, the woman made a claim for the failure to treat DVT against the South Eastern Care and Social Health Trust – the NHS Trust responsible for the Ulster Hospital – in which she alleged that she was not properly assessed as being at risk of DVT – despite her age placing her in the high-risk category.
She claimed in her action that if she had been properly assessed, she would have been prescribed medication to prevent the condition from developing. She also alleged a failure to treat symptoms of DVT when she attended the Ulster Hospital after the birth of her first child.
The South Eastern Care and Social Health Trust only acknowledged the failings in her care at the eleventh hour – just prior to a hearing getting underway at the Crown Court in Belfast. After apologising to her, the NHS Trust agreed a settlement of the claim for a failure to treat DVT amounting to £400,000.