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Stuart's Story

“The Thompsons representative was like a greyhound after a hare – once she got going she wouldn’t stop!”

“I went into my local hospital in March 2004 for what should have been a routine operation to remove my gall bladder.

Instead, it became a nightmare.

To be honest, the first person who realised my operation had gone wrong was my wife.

I was more or less out of it when she collected me from the hospital, still coming round from the anaesthetic.

But she’d had the same operation a few years earlier, without any trouble, and she could tell something was wrong.

I was already in a lot of discomfort and I couldn’t bear any weight on my feet.

When we got home I couldn’t walk. My wife virtually pushed me up the stairs.

The following day I was feeling rotten and could taste bile, which shouldn’t have been possible after the operation.

I was taken back to the hospital by ambulance and, later, five and a half litres of bile were drained from my abdominal cavity, along with five gallstones that had been floating around.

While the surgeon, a different one, was doing this procedure and I was out, under anaesthetic again, the surgeon who did my first operation came in and learned what had happened to me – he had accidentally severed my bile duct.

He immediately acknowledged his mistake to my wife – he actually held his hands up and said ‘It’s my fault - I’m totally responsible!’

He also told my wife ‘If and when you get back from Bristol, make an appointment with my secretary and we’ll have a chat.’

I knew nothing about this at the time. But “Bristol” meant the Bristol Royal Infirmary to which I was about to be transferred.

I was in a bad way, I had multiple organ failure and septicaemia, and it was a long while before I got back.

I was nine weeks in Intensive Care in Bristol, where I had eight further operations.

I was there a total of 6 months and I later learned that there were a few times when some people – including my family - thought I might not pull through.

Prior to all this I had worked in a paper mill, along with my brother-in-law.

But when I finally got back home I needed yet more surgery due to complications.

I kept in touch with the works doctor at the paper mill but there was no possibility of my returning to my old job which included risk assessments of heavy lifting and climbing ladders attached to big machines – I can’t lift or climb anymore.

When the 12 months insurance covering my mortgage payments had expired we were in financial difficulties, too .

So I accepted a redundancy package.

The representative from the union I had been in suggested I claimed for clinical negligence and mentioned the union’s lawyers, Thompsons Solicitors.

My brother in law had also heard of Thompsons so we made contact and a Thompsons Medical Negligence lawyer – Cathryn Davies - came to see me at home.

She looked and acted very professional, and proved to be so.

She made an instant assessment of what had happened to me and it was spot on.

From then on Cathryn was like a greyhound chasing a hare.

Once she got going she wouldn’t stop.

She made sure we were kept in the picture throughout, too.

She wouldn’t do anything without telling us.

Her secretary, Melanie, would even phone before sending a letter to us to explain what it was about and see if there was anything we might not understand.

Though the surgeon had admitted responsibility for his mistake very early on there were legal issues over what’s called “Causation” – meaning had I any other conditions that could have made my problem worse.

Despite this, the hospital trust started making offers for a settlement.

But Thompsons’ Cathryn kept turning them down.

Eventually the trust wanted a meeting with their barrister and Thompsons' barrister present.

The trust’s barrister seemed to be in a losing position almost straight away and left the meeting early.

Eventually we got an offer we accepted.

To be honest, it was more than we expected and we’re over the moon!

Today, I can get by if I wear a surgical corset but without it I’m like a turtle on its back – my stomach muscles have receded and wasted and can’t regenerate.

There are things I just can’t do anymore – I used to be very keen on cycling, camping and swimming and I used to walk 25 miles a day at times.

But as I said, I do my best to get by. I can’t bend over without difficulty.

I can’t fill a kettle full of water – but I can fill it enough for 2 cups.

There has been a lot of publicity surrounding my case and I now get contacted by complete strangers who’ve seen or heard about me and suffered similar damage and wanting to know what to do about it.

I advise them to get in touch with Thompsons.”

Stuart