in June 2015 Reuben suffered a minor burn playing
with his brother. He got sent down to Chelsea and Westminster looked like it was
second-degree burns and was discharged from there with a leaflet saying if any of
these signs occur contact us. The day after he's really lethargic he's got a rash
his temperature was up he's complaining of a sore throat. We saw a doctor who
said that Reuben had a sore throat and I challenged and said well is it
anything to do with the burn "absolutely not it's far too soon for it to be
infection relating to a burn don't worry about it he's got severe tonsillitis
we'll give you some penicillin and they discharged him and said no you don't
need to worry about it" By this time he was not drinking properly he'd had
diarrhea and sickness as well so I phoned up Chelsea and Westminster again
and they said no take him straight in it sounds like toxic shock or septic shock
he was straight through to the resuss area within a short space of time one of
the quite senior doctors came through and said your son is seriously ill they
started pumping him with fluids.
One of the things he needed was an emergency
fasciotomy which is the pressure on one of his legs was significant and try and
save the leg they needed to do two cuts into his right foot and he recovered
really well from that operation. I think that was the turning point for me he was
responding so well to everything and they said he was out of danger but the
consultant said it's highly likely he's going to lose his legs and his hands but
he's going to make it was like a way of being lifted off my mind
I started researching about potential clinical negligence claims and to be
honest it was quite clear to me that there were a lot of unanswered questions
one of the other companies I contacted said oh there's absolutely no case it's
toxic shock that's rare there's no case to answer. It just didn't feel right when
I spoke to Slater and Gordon they were like absolutely yeah we think there's a case here
I dealt with the national call centre for Slater and Gordon. It wasn't just a
case of being a lawyer I needed somebody that actually could appreciate the
personal side of it which was quite important because you're going to be
working really closely with the person that's going to be taking your case forward
and it is a long road which has emotional challenges frustrations and a
lot of things that you need to go through
to be at the position we're in within two years is absolutely amazing I think it's
very few clinical negligence cases will get to this stage a hospital did do
a very early admission of liability that has meant that we've been able to progress
on with life and get things in place for Reuben that he needs now. He's had
several sets of legs; we've just moved into our new property which has been a
huge relief for us we don't know what the future is going to bring with Reuben so
we continue to work with Slater and Gordon, the experts, the hospitals just
to wait and see how things develop everything about Reuben is about what he
can do not what he can't do with him he will tell you "I can do it I can
do it" which bearing in mind what he's been through it's absolutely amazing
Slater and Gordon they've done everything I need for Reuben and more
so to me that's the best sort of recommendation I can give. Some people
delay making a clinical negligence claim. Don't delay everything start recording
it, start documenting it if you've got that gut feeling something's not right
just document it and ask the question. It could be your life that it's affecting by
getting the negligence claim sorted for Reuben
that has absolutely changed our life for the better