Compensation has been secured from Ealing Primary Care Trust for the family of a woman who died after district nurses failed to properly examine her, leading to the spread of infection which caused multiple organ failure and ultimately her death.

With the support of leading personal injury specialists Thompsons Solicitors, Mrs Sangeeta Sohal, from Hayes, Middlesex, secured the compensation for her late mother Mrs Harveen Oberoi, from Southall.

In 2002, Mrs Oberoi had two knee replacement operations and started suffering leg ulcers in 2003. She started to receive treatment from the District Nurses in September 2005.

Infected ulcers led to sepsis

Her daughter Sangeeta Sohal explains: “Three swabs were taken from the ulcer which showed bacterial infection, but they were not reported in the normal 48 to 72 hour time frame. When the nurse visited my mother in December 2006, she changed the dressing, but no clinical assessment was made even though I told her that I was concerned regarding the redness and swelling to my mother’s leg. I was told that it was normal in this kind of condition and not to worry.”

“The next day, I found my mother unconscious in her bed. She was admitted by ambulance to Ealing Hospital, where she subsequently died as a result of multi-organ failure, sepsis, hypertension and chronic leg ulcers. As a result of the nurse’s misjudgement my mother is now no longer here.”

Representing Mrs Oberoi, Kashmir Uppal from Thompsons Solicitors in Birmingham comments: “This is a clear case of clinical negligence by Ealing Primary Care Trust, who failed to provide a standard of care that Mrs Oberoi had a right to expect. If the district nurses had carried out a detailed clinical assessment, the extent of the infection would have become apparent and resulted in earlier admission to Hospital which would have saved her life.”