£575,000 pay-out victory for law firm

AN OLDHAM law firm has helped a client win £575,000 compensation for a hospital blunder that left him without a job and dependent on care.

The former employment adviser at the Citizens Advice Bureau suffered loss of balance, nausea, tinnitus and vertigo after staff at Rotherham General Hospital gave him too much of a powerful antibiotic after he was admitted with an infection around his heart.

He contacted the Oldham medical-negligence team at Pearson Hinchliffe solicitors, Queen Street, after reading about it on an American website.

The compensation was given for the Sheffield man’s pain, suffering, lost earnings and loss of amenity.

He has depended on his wife’s care since the incident, almost five years ago, and they now plan to move to a more suitable home and make more appropriate care arrangements.

The 58-year-old, who has not been identified, said: “I am still grieving for the life I have lost — the independence I shall never again enjoy and the things like playing football with my grandchildren that I’ll never be able to do again.”

He has since become a patients’ champion with Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA), an independent charity promoting better patient safety and justice for people who have been affected by a medical accident.

John Pollitt, medical-negligence partner at Pearson Hinchliffe, said: “Gentamicin was administered for significantly longer than it should have been. This caused ototoxicity, affecting the balance function of his inner ears.”

The hospital has not commented.