Despite having a long term prescription for warfarin, JC was also prescribed Daktarin for oral thrush by her GP. These two drugs are contraindicated, which means that they should not be taken together. It was alleged against the GP that he knew or ought to have known that these two drugs should not be prescribed together, the effects of which is to heighten warfarin’s blood thinning ability and raises the risk of internal bleeding.
It was also alleged that JC had not received any warning from her GP that the two drugs were contraindicated and had she known she would not have taken Daktarin.
Within 24 hours of taking Daktarin, JC started to suffer with stomach and back pain and bruising all over her body. The Defendant GP carried out a home visit but dismissed JC’s concerns, failed to identify the prescription error and failed to decrease her warfarin dose to reduce the risk of internal bleeding.
Due to the continuation of both sets of medication, JC developed severe haematuria (blood in her urine) and was admitted to hospital. It was identified that she was suffering from internal bleeding caused by the heightened effects of warfarin and lost 5 pints of blood. As a result of the blood loss, she developed blood clots which formed in her bladder, which caused an over extension/stretching injury. As a result of the over extension injury to her bladder, she now suffers ongoing urinary incontinence, which has severely affected her ability to carry out day to day tasks.
How we helped
We obtained supportive independent expert evidence which identified failings in her GP care and detailed the injuries that this had caused. A Pre-action Letter of Claim was sent to the Defendant, setting out JC’s case. The Defendant denied liability. Despite the Defendant’s denial, our experts remained supportive and so proceedings were issued against the Defendant and the claim started at court.
Liability remained strongly disputed. Our initial attempts at settlement were refused by the Defendant but we persevered advancing through to exchange of expert reports with the Defendant.
We maintained our support of the claim and despite the Defendant’s continued denial of liability, we negotiated a settlement of compensation for a five figure sum.
