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Atlantic Barrister gets Justice for Poisoned Brothers
ATLANTIC Chambers clinical negligence barrister Scott Donovan has won an eight year legal battle for a family trying to prove that hospital staff had poisoned their two sons.
Bosses at Liverpool’s biggest hospital have now apologised to the McNeely family after admitting they had pumped excess iron into their children’s bodies for more than 25 years.
The iron poisoning had spread through Paul and Liam’s bodies into all their vital organs with horrific consequences – that could have proved fatal.
Yet despite the family’s repeated concerns and suggestions from various doctors that the children may be iron overloaded, staff at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital failed to do a simple test which would show Paul and Liam’s iron levels were dangerously high.
Instead they continued to pump more iron into their bodies with regular blood transfusions used to manage a rare form of Anaemia, called Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD).
Dennis and Linda McNeely have fought an exhausting legal battle for eight years to find out the full facts of what has happened to their sons and to prove the hospital’s gross negligence.
They finally won the case and substantial compensation earlier this year, represented by Scott Donovan, an expert in clinical negligence.
Mr Donovan said: “This was a very interesting but most challenging case. The medical issues were very complicated and both Claimants suffered life threatening injuries.
“The extent of organic injuries caused by the many years of iron overload was significant and the impact on the two Claimants and their parents social, domestic, leisure and employment was wide reaching.
“The outcome was most gratifying and showed commendable determination on the part of the Claimants’ solicitors and their parents.”
Today, at their specially-adapted Calderstones home, Dennis and Linda spoke for the first time of the way their family and sons’ health had been devastated because of the Royal’s incompetence.
Linda, 60 said: “As a family we are still devastated with what’s happened.
“No amount of compensation could ever replace the normal family life which has been taken away from us, or relieve the ongoing stress we have to endure.
“I feel extremely let down by these so-called professionals and cannot understand how they failed to spot the iron overload, when all the symptoms of iron overload were staring them right in the face.
“We have had to fight for the truth and for the correct treatment to save our sons' lives.”
Iron overload is an extremely serious condition, which left untreated kills.
The excess iron deposits itself in every organ of the body, liver, heart, arteries, pancreas, brain, pituitary gland, basal ganglia, bones, joints and the endocrine system.
This in turn can cause:
· Liver Cirrhosis or Fibrosis
· Diabetes
· Heart failure
· Osteoporosis
· Adrenal and Pituitary deficiency
· Neurological and Psychological Damage
· Stunted growth
Earlier this year the Royal issued a letter of apology to Paul, now 39, and to Liam aged 35, admitting gross negligence.
Out of court settlements involving the Court of Protection were won by Mr Donovan for the family for the life-long damage the hospital had caused to Liam and Paul’s health.
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