Personal Injury Claims Bristol Blog

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has asked a senior NHS expert to look into concerns raised following the diagnosis of lung disease in ex-mineworkers.  The concerns were raised when the Union of Democratic Mineworkers paid for 2 redundant ex-miners to have CT scans of their lungs privately.  It was discovered that both miners from Nottinghamshire were suffering from pneumoconiosis despite previous X-rays in 2013 coming back marked as “satisfactory”.  The union is now calling for all former miners to get CT scans following the results of Ray Nunn and Crawford Hunter, both aged 51.

According to the information gathered by a health watchdog during an inspection in March, emergency patients at a Worcestershire hospital are ‘at risk’. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection made some worrying findings at Worcestershire Royal’s emergency department, such as equipment being unclean and past its expiry date and no security measures being in place.

Robert Blackwell, 19, from Hayway Lane, Bampton, Oxfordshire, has been given a 4 year jail sentence after admitting dangerous driving resulting in the death of schoolgirl, Liberty Baker, 14, on 30 June.  Blackwell’s car mounted the pavement killing Liberty and injuring 2 of her friends as they walked to school in Witney, Oxfordshire.  Blackwell admitted causing death by dangerous driving and inflicting serious injury by dangerous driving, and admitted to having smoked cannabis on the day before taking to the road.  The incident took place in Curbridge Road and also involved Paul Cracknell who was walking on the pavement behind the girls.  Mr Cracknell is still receiving treatment for the serious leg injuries which he sustained.

A man has been charged after punching three strangers in the face as they left a bar in Plymouth. 25-year-old Dominic Shorten assaulted the individuals in an unprovoked attack, knocking one of them unconscious. Mr Shorten admitted the three counts of assault against Mr Alexander, Ross Pettitt and James Spingnall on 17 September at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court.

A welder who was hit by a falling metal frame has sued a Downham firm for up to £200,000 in compensation. 40-year-old Scott Fewster had been working as a welder at a skateboard ramp manufacturers, called Highline Extreme, when a metal frame fell on him. He said that the metal frame pushed him back onto a concrete floor, which left him with severely debilitating injuries.

Incidents involving duck boat tours in Liverpool and London have highlighted serious failings.  A recent report found that the incidents were caused by both poor maintenance and a general failure to meet standards. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said that the company behind the amphibious duck vehicles is “extremely fortunate” that no one was hurt in either of the incidents.

A review has been opened into the care received by a teenager at Redhill’s East Surrey Hospital after she died in August. 19-year-old Georgina Weaver was admitted to the hospital with complaints of severe headaches and blurred vision. Georgina’s parents are still waiting to hear the actual cause of their daughter’s death following delays in the post-mortem examination.

An East Sussex hospital has apologised to the family of a breast cancer patient who died following an operation in 2012. 35-year-old Nicole Haynes was undergoing a routine procedure at the Eastbourne District General Hospital to remove a tumour from her adrenal gland when the surgeon accidentally “clipped the wrong vessels”. It was heard that surgeon Steve Garnett had “misidentified” the arteries which caused the death of Mrs Haynes.

Suffolk County Council has paid out £70,000 to claimants for pothole damage over the last two years. The figures were released under a Freedom of Information request, which uncovered the sum to be made up of personal injury compensation, vehicle damage, legal fees and other costs.

A former nurse has been awarded £225,000 in compensation after she was forced to leave her job following a serious fall on holiday. 58-year-old Kathleen Powell had been a nurse for the army when she went on holiday to Tenerife in 2006.  The accident happened during a salsa dancing class when she slipped on a wet floor, around which were no warning signs. Ms Powell suffered three broken bones in her leg and two broken toes.  She is still in pain eight years after the accident happened.

It has been decided that no criminal charges will be made following the deaths of two women in a nightclub crush in 2011. 22-year-old Nabila Nanfuka and 19-year-old Laurene-Danielle Jackson were both out at Lava & Ignite in Northampton on the 18^th of October 2011.  Around 1,500 had been in the nightclub when the crush happened during a Wickedest Wickedest event.  Most of the clubbers had been university students who had travelled to the event on coaches.

After a family recently received compensation for the brain damage of their son following a hospital error, figures have revealed that the health trust has paid out over £37.8 million to patients in the last ten years. Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust agreed to compensate the family of Cody Lyster-Hughes £6.5m earlier this week – one of the biggest payouts the health trust has ever made.

A man from Bedworth has been banned from owning dogs after he pleaded guilty to owning dangerous dogs that caused injury.  58-year-old Jasvinder Chana admitted to owning two dogs that caused injury on two separate occasions, on Monday 11^th August and Wednesday 13^th August.  The victims, a fourteen-year-old boy and a fourteen-year-old girl, were both left with severe injuries following the attacks.

A wave of public anger has overcome the Derby community after a destruction order was placed on a dog forced to bite a shop assistant by its owner.  Tia, a “pitbull or Staffordshire” type dog, was forced by her owner, Jessiah Johnson, to attack a shop assistant in November last year. Magistrates ordered the destruction of the dog following the incident, which has resulted in a public outcry with people arguing that the dog should not be held responsible.

A couple from Bristol have finally been awarded compensation after a holiday organised by Thomas Cook went terribly wrong.  Mark Bidwell and Nicola Greathurst had been on a two-week long holiday at the four-star Bahia Principe Hotel, in the Dominican Republic; a few months before they were due to have a baby.  However, only five weeks into the holiday, Mr Bidwell fell severely unwell with a gastric illness.  He suffered abdominal pain, diarrhoea, lethargy and serious weight loss.

A chemical leak has left a man in hospital.  A delivery driver phoned firefighters yesterday morning with the fear that there was a chemical leak inside his vehicle. The van had been delivering a heavy duty acidic de-scaler to a house in Ashbury, near Faringdon, when the incident happened. It is believed that the dangerous chemical leaked out through the packaging and into the delivery van, affecting the driver.

Hull City Council is to pay compensation to a five-year-old boy after he tripped and fell on an unsafe drain.  Jayden Willby, from east Hull, suffered injuries after tripping on an unsafe drain nearby his home last November.  The drain was highlighted as a hazard to the council on the day of Jayden’s injury, but nothing was done to mend it. Five months later, Jayden’s mum, Candice Gilchrist, decided to take action, arguing that children frequently walk to school on that road.

A special care unit for people with learning disabilities is ‘unlikely to reopen’ after a teenage boy died in the bath last year. 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk was found unconscious in a bath at Slade House, Headington, Oxford, on the 4^th of July last year.  He died in hospital later that day.

It has recently been identified by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) that the platforms of many train stations slope towards the tracks. A spokesperson from the branch said that the rail industry has not identified this as a problem, despite it having caused numerous accidents.  With reports ranging from a child in a pushchair to a wheelchair user rolling onto the tracks, the majority of the reports laid the blame on the passengers involved.

With over 150 people in England affected by Salmonella over the last few months, Public Health England is investigating the possible sources. Tests have already revealed that all the cases are linked to one particular source, but this has not yet been identified. The illness is usually linked to foods such as eggs and poultry, causing diarrhoea, stomach pains, sickness and fever.  Most people are able to recover without treatment; however, one hospital has reported three deaths in relation to the outbreak.