Tom Gibson acts for patient in successful sight loss claim

Tom Gibson acted for a successful claimant who lost the sight in his right eye after a hospital failed to organise proper follow-up care following retinal detachment surgery. The case was reported, before its successful conclusion, by the Daily Telegraph in April 2019 as part of a feature about systemic problems within the NHS [see here]. As that article explained, Mr Dalton was an active 71-year-old at the time of his retinal detachment surgery. He enjoyed extreme sports such as skydiving and climbing to Mount Everest Base Camp. However the loss of sight in his right eye – and with it his 3-dimensional vision – left him unable to go cycling and struggling to pour a cup of tea.

In the legal claim, the Defendant hospital trust admitted that Mr Dalton should have been followed up within 2 weeks of surgery (in line with its own surgeon’s recommendation) rather than over a month later, as actually happened. However the Defendant denied, contrary to Mr Dalton’s case and expert evidence, that an earlier follow-up appointment would have led to a significantly improved outcome.

Following negotiations Mr Dalton’s claim was settled successfully in summer 2019. Tom was instructed by Alice Johnson, Partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper.

News 30 Jul, 2019