Personal Injury Lawyers in New York

Roy Hodgson, aged 66, was a cancer patient in Britain who had been through the procedure to remove a tumor from his throat. He was recovering in hospital with a feeding tube inserted, since he was unable to swallow until the throat area had healed up.

His prognosis was good until the feeding tube came out and a nurse re-inserted it incorrectly. Nobody noticed for two weeks, not even the radiologist who studied a scan of the area. When Mr. Hodgson’s family visited him, he tried to tell them he was hungry, and pointed to his swollen abdomen. Nobody could understand what he was trying to say. No hospital personnel noticed that his feeding tube was in the wrong place and the food was not going into his stomach.

It had been inserted into the abdominal cavity instead of into the stomach. He developed peritonitis, which is a difficult condition to treat under the best circumstances. It is an infection of the membrane which lines the abdominal cavity. His abdomen was swollen from the infection. Still nobody noticed.

Finally he was found crouching in the hospital foyer, clutching his stomach, and trying to escape from the hospital. He was quickly taken to intensive care, where he died of hunger and infection.

The hospital has accepted responsibility for this medical negligence and will be paying damages to Mr. Hodgson’s family. The hospital is a National Health Service hospital, part of Britain’s socialized medicine system, paid for by taxes. The entire system immediately changed its protocol for feeding tubes, and Mark Hodgson, Hodgson’s son, aged 28, feels that this is enough. The family is not pursuing legal action for the money, as Mark explained:

““We have been told that they have changed the procedure nationwide. That is the best thing we could have got from this.”

At the inquest following Mr. Hodgson’s death, the Coroner concluded that Mr. Hodgson had died as a result of an accident.

If you have lost a loved one because of a hospital mistake, please contact us for a free case evaluation. We believe that medical negligence should be exposed and those responsible should be held liable for the pain and injury they cause.