Meningitis compensation can be claimed where there has been inappropriate advice given concerning treatment options and the risks and benefits of the various options, as well as where there have been excessive delays in providing treatment, such as intravenous antibiotics, or where there has been any substandard care that amounts to actual Medical Negligence.
Contact us today, you have nothing to lose by speaking to us. We conduct most of our Clinical and Medical Negligence claims under ‘No Win, No Fee’ agreements, also known as Conditional Fee Agreements. So, our clients do not have to worry about how they can possibly afford to pay for meningitis compensation claims.
Information about Meningitis
If meningitis is not diagnosed and treated quickly, a patient can be left with permanent, devastating injuries, or even lose their life. Meningitis can affect anyone, adults or children, but some people are more vulnerable to this illness than others, as in the legal case detailed below.
Some increased risk factors are:
- Having a genetic tendency
- Being older and not having had a pneumococcal vaccination
- Not having childhood vaccinations
- Living in crowded conditions, or where there are rodents and insects, or travel to places like sub-Saharan Africa.
Some medical conditions increase the risk of meningitis:
- Not having a spleen (as in the case below)
- Having defects of the skull when born, a head injury, or surgery to the brain.
- Having kidney dialysis.
- Having impaired immune systems.
- Having other infections, such as chest infections, mumps, tuberculosis (TB), syphilis, Lyme disease, and illnesses caused by herpes viruses.
- Having a cochlear implant for severe hearing loss.
- Being born to a mother infected with an organism that causes meningitis. Viruses such as the enteroviruses and herpes viruses, as well as some bacteria, can be passed from an infected mother to a baby during birth.
- Having had meningitis in the past.
Support after Meningitis
You may need emotional support, to talk in total confidence. You may need practical support, or financial advice/housing advice. We have put together a list of many different agencies who are there to help you. Click no the link below to access our separate helpful webpage:
So, what is a typical meningitis compensation claim worth?
Below you will find details of one of the various successful cases claiming compensation for meningitis, handled by our Director, Caroline Moore.
A very large six-figure sum was the compensation that we recovered for our client, from Birmingham. The exact amount of the award is confidential.
Our client suffered an accident when he was a child that led to the removal of his spleen. His GPs failed to ensure that he received lifetime antibiotic cover and regular vaccinations to protect him from his increased risks of infection. He was 37 years old when he suffered permanent brain injury and mobility problems, after contracting meningitis. He was left with permanent memory problems, physical weaknesses and unable to work.
Our client was classified as ‘walking wounded’. This is a condition where, if you met our client, you might think he was unimpaired. His disabilities are subtle and we needed to explore complicated medical issues in his case to achieve the best settlement possible.
The claim was against various of his past GPs who had failed to pick up on the necessity to offer lifetime antibiotic cover, as well as a regular vaccination program, to protect him from his increased risk of picking up serious infective illnesses.
The patient had had his spleen removed, after a fall at eight years old. The GP practice should have recognised this as a medical alert for antibiotic/vaccination. This care should have been put into action, at the latest, when his medical records were transferred from paper to a computerised system, in the early 2000s.
