9. The law says we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has (or had) the option to take legal action, unless we consider this is (or was) unreasonable in the circumstances. We have discussed this with Miss A to understand her circumstances and the outcomes she wants. We do not consider whether legal action would succeed but whether it would be a reasonable option to look in to.
10. Miss A complains that in July 2020, staff at the Trust gave her an overdose of adrenaline and incorrectly estimated her weight so she had too much blood thinning medication. She also says the Trust misled her throughout the investigation of her concerns and failed in its duty of candour.
11. Miss A says the Trust’s failings mean she has experienced a severe impact to her physical and mental health. Miss A had a cardiac arrest and was put in a coma for five days. She says she was led to believe that she had an autoimmune disease and lived in fear of the events happening again.
12. We asked Miss A what amount of payment she wanted and what it was for. Miss A said she had not thought about the exact amount and struggled to put ‘a figure on losing three years of her life’.
13. We discussed our severity of injustice scale, which sets out the amounts of financial payment we would typically recommend if we found service failures for different types of complaints. Miss A explained that the financial payment was to put right the distress and uncertainty she experienced after the events in July 2020 and for the time she has spent recovering.
14. Miss A explained that at that time, she was preparing to go to university and wanted to study nursing. But, she explains she has been diagnosed with CPTSD, anxiety and depression as a direct result of the Trust’s failings.
15. Miss A reviewed our scale and said she wanted an amount in line with the highest level on the scale, at least £10,000.
16. Miss A wants a level of payment that legal action could achieve. Miss A may be able to make a clinical negligence claim. The apology, service improvements and acknowledgement she also wants may happen as secondary outcomes of the legal action.
17. Miss A explained she got legal advice before to help with making her first and second complaints to the Trust. Miss A explained that at that time, the law firm did not believe there was enough evidence to make a clinical negligence claim.
18. Miss A explained there may be more evidence available now as she has completed the Trust’s complaints process. Miss A understands and is happy to now look into legal action.
19. There are time limits for making legal claims and Miss A has until April 2024 to get legal advice or make a clinical negligence claim. If Miss A is unable to find legal representation or she does not achieve the service improvements, apology and acknowledgement she wants she may bring this complaint back to us.
20. If that happens, we will need to consider our time limit, so it is important she returns to us quickly. We will also check how far she got with the legal process to understand why she returned to us.
21. By taking legal action, Miss A is more likely to get the outcome she is hoping to achieve. We understand how difficult Miss A’s experience has been and we are sorry we are unable to help in the way she expected at this time. We thank Miss A for bringing this complaint to our attention.