What are Stokes, Cerebro-Vascular Accident or CVA?
Strokes (sometimes called Cerebro-Vascular Accident or CVA) causing damage to the brain and also often severe disability, are unfortunately very common, particularly in the elderly. There are many risk factors that increase the likelihood of having a stroke (such as obesity, high blood pressure and smoking) but most of them are unavoidable and often unexpected.
The cause of strokes (often called a Cerebro-Vascular Accident or CVA in hospitals) fall into 2 categories –
- Bleeding into the brain from a burst blood vessel.
- A cutting off of blood (and therefore oxygen) to a part of the brain due to a clot forming in a narrowed blood vessel.
Occasionally a stroke is a result of clinical negligence and damages in such cases are often high because of the devastating nature of some strokes.
Cases
- A 55 year old man was on anticoagulant (blood thinning) therapy following a clot in his leg after a flight from Australia.
Regular tests to check the clotting time of his blood were not done often enough and the levels rose to 3 times what they should have been.
This resulted in a bleed into the brain and a severe stroke which left him with hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body) and speech difficulties.
Compensation was high because of loss of earnings (he had had his own business) and the fact that he had 3 dependent children.
- A 60 year old woman was also on anticoagulant therapy (Warfarin) but her medication was stopped because she was going to have surgery. The surgery was cancelled but the warfarin was not recommenced.
She suffered a massive stroke due to the formation of a blood clot in the brain. This resulted in severely impaired mobility, incontinence and difficulties with both speech and swallowing.
Her case was settled for £105,000 plus £40,000 per annum for as long as she remained alive.
Neither of these cases were straightforward and it was only because of the expertise and persistence of their specialist clinical negligence solicitors that they recovered the substantial damages that made their future lives a little more comfortable.
If you have been harmed by a stroke or cerebro vascular accident as a result of incompetence or lack of care or poor judgment you may be able to claim compensation. The clinical negligence claims team at JMW Medical Negligence Solicitors is one of the most experienced and respected in the United Kingdom and most are members of both the Law Society Medical Negligence Panel and AVMA (Action against Medical accidents) Referral Panel.
We are able to deal with cases using public funding (formerly Legal Aid) or No Win No Fee in appropriate cases. If after talking to us you decide not to take matters further you are under no obligation to do so and you will not be charged for our initial advice session.
For an assessment of your potential claim, please click here to complete our online enquiry form and one of our specialists will contact you shortly or please contact us on 0845 402 0001.
