It can easily be said that one of the most common medical negligence claims surrounds meningitis and at one point it was the biggest form of personal injury cases. There are many reasons for this such as the disease is difficult to diagnose and if missed it can lead to long term disability or even death.

Meningitis refers to the inflammation of the coverings and linings of the brain and is caused by either a bacterial or viral infection. Bacterial meningitis is generally much more serious that viral meningitis and is almost always fatal without appropriate antibiotic therapy. However, the incidence of bacterial meningitis is rapidly reducing due to the widespread use of the Hib and meningococcus vaccines.

Meningitis affects thousands of people every year and due to the fact it is a hard disease to diagnose many of these people don’t survive. It is because of this that doctors are often encouraged to keep the idea of meningitis in mind. To aid this it is a good idea for doctors, in a hospital or GP, to record not only the symptoms that were present but also meningitis symptoms that were absent. This is because in this situation if a patient who develops meningitis despite a different diagnosis has still suffered a tragedy, but not necessarily an episode of negligence. This way a doctor also has a record which states why meningitis was ruled out of a diagnosis.

If meningitis is suspected treatment for it should begin even before an official diagnosis has been given. The reason behind this is because some of the tests that need to be carried out take several hours to complete, meaning it is dangerous to delay treatment as the disease could get worse.

Meningitis refers to the inflammation of the coverings and linings of the brain and is caused by either a bacterial or viral infection. Bacterial meningitis is generally much more serious that viral meningitis and is almost always fatal without appropriate antibiotic therapy. However, the incidence of bacterial meningitis is rapidly reducing due to the widespread use of the Hib and meningococcus vaccines.

So what should you be looking out for in a suspected meningitis claim? The symptoms that are caused by meningitis are as follows:

• Severe headache
• Vomiting
• High fever
• Stiff neck
• Sensitivity to light
• Many people (but not all) also develop a distinctive skin rash

These symptoms, in the case of bacterial meningitis usually being straight away and worsen extremely quickly. If you suspect a case of bacterial meningitis it is important that you phone 999 immediately and get an ambulance.

Unfortunately due to medical errors meningitis does sometimes go undiagnosed and when it is found it is often too late or in cases when it was suspected, treatment failed to start; cases such as these are classes as medical negligence.
If you have suffered in the last years or you have lost someone close to you as a result of being failed by the medical profession then you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Here at Accident Consult we are experts in all aspects of personal injury compensation claims surrounding meningitis claims. If you would like to know more information or if you would like to start a claim for compensation then get in touch with Accident Consult today on 08081 68 69 70 and speak to one of our advisors about what to do next.