Claimant awarded £150,000 in ophthalmic negligence claim

Clare Thompson, Partner and Head of our Clinical Negligence Team at Hay & Kilner, acted on behalf of a client who was awarded compensation in the sum of £150,000 in April 2022.

Clare was instructed by the Claimant to investigate a potential clinical negligence claim against a local optician and hospital, following a failure to refer them for specialist advice sooner in light of persistently high intraocular pressures. As a result of the Defendants’ alleged negligence, Clare’s client suffered a significant loss of visual function, which would have been prevented with appropriate investigations and treatment. Supportive expert evidence was obtained from an Optometrist and an Ophthalmic Surgeon. A report was obtained from an Occupational Therapist to assist in the quantification of damages.

A detailed Letter of Claim was served on the two Defendants, alleging that had appropriate further investigations been carried out at the time of the presenting symptoms in 2008, on the balance of probabilities, Clare’s client would have been diagnosed with the early signs of glaucoma and appropriate treatment would have been commenced at this stage.

Following receipt of the detailed allegations, both Defendants denied liability. A mediation took place in November 2020, at which neither Defendant made an offer to settle. Legal proceedings were issued in April 2021, and both Defendants served a Defence, each making minimal admissions and essentially blaming the other for Clare’s client’s injuries.

Following further negotiations, a Part 36 Offer was received from the First and Second Defendants in the sum of £150,000 in full and final settlement of the whole of the claim. The Claimant accepted this offer in April 2022.

Clare and her client appeared in an episode of the BBC1 series ‘Northern Justice’, discussing this claim.

If you have suffered as a result of clinical negligence, please contact our clinical negligence team on 0191 232 8345.