The primary Plaintiff was a 58 year old man Coffs Harbour man. In August 2013 he underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, removal of his gall bladder. In January 2015 he presented to the defendant doctor with complaints of severe upper abdominal pain. He consented to an Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, an investigatory technique, and was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis.
Due to mismanagement on the part of the defendant doctor that Plaintiff developed Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and deteriorating renal functions.
By February 2015 the Plaintiff had such a severe infection that he was rushed to Westmead Hospital, Sydney, where he had most of his large intestine removed and an abdominal drainage bag put into place.
The injury was life threatening, and in fact, sapped his will to live. The Plaintiff required some 7 months plus of hospitalisation before he was well enough to be transferred from Westmead back to Coffs Harbour Hospital.
His experience was horrific and extreme, leaving him severely disabled both physically and emotionally.
The secondary Plaintiffs were the primary plaintiff’s sister and children who brought about a nervous shock claim for the psychological damage which they sustained due to the traumatic injury which their father/brother had sustained.
The primary Plaintiff sustained large amounts of economic loss due to the large amounts of time he spent in hospital, as well as the ongoing economic loss which he sustained due to his severe injuries effecting his ability to continue to work.
The primary Plaintiff also sustained very large treatment expenses and even required large amounts of domestic care and assistance to be provided to him by his family.
Gerard Malouf and Partners obtained liability evidence to support our client’s claims and then personal injury proceedings documentation was completed and filed with the District Court NSW. Once the defendants had a chance to obtain evidence in reply a mediation was organised.
Ultimately the primary matter settle for over $500,000.00 which each of the other family members received $40,000.00 each.
At Gerard Malouf and Partners we are not a giant publicly listed law company, but we are highly specialised and focused personal injury specialist law firm. We are small enough to care intimately for our clients, but large enough to have a solid financial and expert recourses our clients need to fight and in their cases!
