If you have suffered a stroke, it is vital that this is correctly diagnosed so that you can be correctly monitored and receive the right treatment. Especially since, in certain cases, strokes can also be fatal. If you have suffered a stroke but this was misdiagnosed, you may suffer a variety of different symptoms. In this guide, we explain how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis.
Key Takeaways
- It’s vital to act quickly if you suspect you or someone else is having a stroke.
- Some stroke symptoms can last for months, years, or develop into lifelong conditions.
- You need to prove you suffered unnecessary harm due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care in order to make a medical negligence claim.
- You have three years to pursue stroke misdiagnosis compensation.
- You will need to present supporting evidence when making your compensation claim.
Continue reading this guide to see whether you may have an eligible claim. Additionally, you can also contact our advisors to discuss your case and receive free advice:
- Click on the live chat option.
- Put your details into our contact form.
- Call 0800 408 7827
Frequently Asked Questions
- Claiming Compensation For Stroke Medical Negligence
- How Can Compensation For Stroke Misdiagnosis Help Me?
- What Is A Stroke?
- The Risks Of Delayed Stroke Treatment
- Can I Sue The NHS For Stroke Misdiagnosis?
- Timeframes For A Missed Stroke Diagnosis Claim
- Further Grounds For A Stroke Negligence Claim
- Do I Need A Solicitor To Start A Stroke Claim?
- Learn More
Claiming Compensation For Stroke Medical Negligence
If you wish to pursue a stroke misdiagnosis claim, you must prove that medical negligence took place. But what is medical negligence exactly?
In the UK, medical negligence is when you suffer unnecessary or avoidable harm due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care.
All healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and GPs, owe a duty of care. They must provide their patients with the correct standard of care when treating them. This includes considering all symptoms, referring for further tests when needed and providing the proper treatment for the condition. Failure to do so could be classified as a breached duty of care.
For example, if you visited a hospital with stroke symptoms, but the doctor treating you misdiagnosed you with suffering from a migraine and failed to order further testing. A misdiagnosed stroke could cause you to suffer brain damage due to receiving delayed treatment.
Claiming On Behalf Of Another Person
You can claim on behalf of another person if they are unable to claim themselves. You can do this by being appointed as a litigation friend. A litigation friend can be appointed by a court or by the person you are representing but must be approved by the court.
Instances of when a litigation friend may be used is if the claimant is under the age of 18 or lacks the mental capacity to pursue their own claim.
As their litigation friend, you will be expected to act in their best interests and keep them informed of all aspects of the claim.
To learn more about how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis on behalf of someone else or yourself, you can contact our advisors.
How Can Compensation For Stroke Misdiagnosis Help Me?
If you have a valid medical negligence claim and are successfully awarded compensation, this could help you in a variety of ways.
Firstly, you could be compensated for the unnecessary harm you expereinced due to the negligent actions of a medical professional. This harm would be compensated under the head of loss known as general damages. This is always awarded in successful claims.
Those responsible for calculating this head of loss could use any medical records provided in addition to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). Within this document are compensation guidelines for a range of different injuries and illnesses at varying severities.
We have used some of these when creating the table below, aside from the first entry.
| TYPE OF INJURY | SEVERITY | POTENTIAL COMPENSATION |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Forms of Harm and Special Damages | Very Severe | Up to £500,000+ |
| Paralysis Injuries | Tetraplegia/Quadriplegia | £396,140 to £493,000 |
| Paraplegia | £267,340 to £346,890 | |
| Brain and Head Injuries | Very Severe | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Moderately Severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | |
| Moderate (i) | £183,190 to £267,340 | |
| Moderate (ii) | £110,720 to £183,190 | |
| Moderate (iii) | £52,550 to £110,720 | |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Severe | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Moderately Severe | £28,250 to £73,050 |
Compensation payouts for medical negligence claims could also include special damages. This could help you as it compensates you for the associated financial losses you have suffered, such as:
- Prescription costs.
- At-home care, such as nursing care, cleaning help, and childcare.
- Loss of earnings if you were forced to take time off or leave your job.
- Ongoing medical treatment.
- Travel costs to medical appointments.
- Paying for private medical care to avoid NHS waiting times.
All of these costs, however, will need to be proven to be able to claim for them. Evidence could include bank statements, invoices and payslips.
To learn more on how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis and have the eligibility of your case assessed, you can contact our advisors.
What Is A Stroke?
A stroke occurs when the blood flow to your brain is affected, causing issues with speech and movement. The longer blood flow is affected, the more side effects and consequences are likely to occur.
The Two Types Of Stroke
There are two types of stroke.
- An ischemic stroke is when the blood vessels within your brain cannot function as normal due to being blocked, such as due to a blood clot.
- 2. A haemorrhagic stroke is when the blood vessels within your brain either rupture or leak. This is sometimes referred to as a brain bleed. It can happen due to several factors, including high blood pressure, a traumatic head injury, or overuse of blood thinners.
The Difference Between A Stroke And A TIA
In certain cases, a person can suffer from a brief stoppage of blood flow to the brain. This event is called a transient ischemic attack (TIA). While it can feel like a regular stroke, a TIA does not last as long as a stroke, with effects lasting only a few minutes to a few hours.
Factors that could increase your chances of suffering a TIA include:
- Having high blood pressure.
- Smoking.
- Having diabetes.
- Obesity.
The Symptoms Of A Stroke
The acronym FAST outlines the steps you should take if you feel you or somebody else is experiencing stroke symptoms. Per the NHS, FAST stands for:
- Face – Check if the person can smile or if their face has dropped (notably their mouth and eye) on one side.
- Arm – See if the person can raise their arms without dropping them.
- Speech – Check if speech is slurred or if the person can understand you.
- Time– It’s time for you to call emergency services if someone experiences one or all of these symptoms.
If you clearly displayed symptoms of a stroke but were misdiagnosed, you can contact our advisors to learn how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis.
The Risks Of Delayed Stroke Treatment
If a stroke is not properly diagnosed as soon as possible, with the correct form of treatment administered, this could lead to a variety of consequences, such as:
- Increased risk of permanent brain damage. This could cause speech problems, cognitive impairments and paralysis.
- Reduced treatment options are available, as a lot of them need to be administered within a certain timeframe of the stroke occurring.
- Impacted quality of life due to suffering the side effects of an untreated stroke.
- Risk of death.
How Do I Prove Stroke Negligence?
As aforementioned, in order to have a valid claim, you must prove that medical negligence took place. This is why having sufficient evidence to support your case is vital. Examples of evidence you could provide include:
- Medical records detailing your diagnosis and treatments.
- Test results from a CT scan, for example.
- The contact details of anyone who witnessed your stroke and the misdiagnosis take place.
A solicitor from our panel could help yo with gathering evidence to support your claim. To learn more about how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis with the help of a solicitor, you can contact our advisory team.
Can I Sue The NHS For Stroke Misdiagnosis?
Regardless of whether the medical professional who treated you worked for the NHS or for a private healthcare sector, you could still make a claim for compensation as long as medical negligence took place.
If you were to make your claim against the NHS, this would be against the relevant NHS Trust. For private healthcare, this would be against their insurance policy.
Contact our advisors today to discuss your case and receive free advice.
Timeframes For A Missed Stroke Diagnosis Claim
Per the Limitation Act 1980, there is a time limit of three years to make a medical negligence claim. This time limit begins either on the date the medical negligence took place or the date you first realised that medical negligence had taken place (the date of knowledge).
For claims involving minors or those lacking the mental capacity to manage their own case, there are exceptions to this time limit.
You can contact our advisors to learn more about these exceptions.
Further Grounds For A Stroke Negligence Claim
A misdiagnosed stroke is not the only form of stroke negligence that you could claim for.
For example, if you were correctly diagnosed as having suffered a TIA, but were given the incorrect treatment for this, you may still be eligible to make a medical negligence claim for the unnecessary harm you suffered.
To discuss your particular circumstances and see whether you may have a valid compensation claim, you can contact our advisors.
Do I Need A Solicitor To Start A Stroke Claim?
While you can file a claim without a solicitor, working with one can come with a range of benefits. Working with a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence claims means that they can use their years of knowledge and practice to help you secure your chances of receiving compensation.
The solicitors on our panel have lots of experience handling various types of medical negligence claims and can do so under a Conditional Fee Agreement, which is a type of No Win No Fee agreement. This type of agreement means:
- There are no upfront service fees to pay.
- You pay nothing for their work as the claim progresses.
- There are no service fees to pay to your solicitor if the claim is not a success.
A success fee will be taken by your solicitor in the event of a successful claim. This will be taken out of your compensation as a legally capped percentage.
Contact Us
To learn more about how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis with one of the solicitor’s on our panel, you can contact our advisors:
- Click on the live chat option.
- Put your details into our contact form.
- Call 0800 408 7827
Learn More
Additional, medical negligence claims guides by us:
- Learn how to sue a hospital for a birth injury in this guide.
- Guidance on how to make surgical negligence claims.
- Advice on claiming for cancer misdiagnosis compensation.
Further resources:
- Learn about the treatments for a stroke from the NHS.
- Receive support and guidance from the Stroke Association.
- Advice on when to call 999 from the NHS.
Thank you for reading this guide on how to sue for a stroke misdiagnosis.