Six-figure settlement for brain injury caused by a hospital’s failure to control blood pressure

Tom West, Medical Negligence solicitor, has obtained a six-figure settlement for the family of a man who suffered brain damage as a result of a hospital’s failure to monitor and control his blood pressure.

Mr F, a 37-year-old man, attended A&E with a recent history of feeling unwell. He had been struggling to eat without vomiting, suffering from headaches and feeling lethargic. Whilst in A&E, repeated blood pressure readings showed that he was experiencing persistent accelerated hypertension (high blood pressure).

If left untreated, persistent accelerated hypertension is known to be a common cause of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), which involves parts of the brain being affected by swelling. As the name suggests, the effects of PRES are often fully reversible if it is identified and treated appropriately.

Despite being identified by an A&E clinician, Mr F’s persistent hypertension was initially left untreated. Eventual attempts to control Mr F’s hypertension were unsuccessful, but the treating clinicians failed to recognise this. Mr F went on to develop PRES and suffered a cardiac arrest.

Mr F was left with severe and permanent brain damage. He was incontinent, unable to self-care and had limited communication and mobility. He was discharged to a rehabilitation centre where unrelated to the alleged negligence, he sadly passed away. The claim was pursued by Mr F’s family on his behalf.

The Defendant Trust acknowledged that there were multiple breaches of duty throughout Mr F’s care. Most notably, they accepted that there was a failure to control Mr F’s blood pressure, which was left untreated at a high level for over 24 hours.

However, the Defendant Trust denied that the breaches of duty had any causative impact. They argued that Mr F’s injuries were unavoidable and, even with proper treatment, he would have suffered the PRES, cardiac arrest and brain damage in any event. Mr F’s expert evidence suggested otherwise.

After obtaining medical evidence in respect of Mr F’s treatment from experts in Emergency Care, Strokes, Cardiology, and Neuro-Radiology, the parties engaged in mediation. Settlement was reached between the parties without the need to issue Court proceedings.

Tom West comments: “Whilst I was delighted to help Mr F’s family achieve this settlement, I am all too aware that, for them, this case was not about the damages. After all, no amount of money could replace what they have lost. I am pleased that the medical evidence we obtained during our investigations allowed Mr F’s family to gain a deeper understanding of what happened and, importantly, that we were able to obtain an acknowledgement from the Trust that mistakes were made. I can only hope that these acknowledgements have resulted in lessons being learnt in order to avoid the same mistakes from happening again.”

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