Ex-mayor’s fight on hospital blunders

The Department of Health is asking whether legal costs involved in bringing a claim for medical negligence should be capped.

More than 80 per cent of the country’s lawyers say they will decline cases if the Government limits fees.

Sally Carr, a former mayor of Southend, lost her husband David at the age of 66.

She launched legal proceedings after doctors at Kings College Hospital, London, failed to detect his developing signs of systemic sepsis and acute renal failure.

Mrs Carr said: “Losing your husband is devastating enough, but when hospital care plays a part in that loss, you are left both grieving the loss of a loved one and angry, because you know had he received a better quality of care he might still be alive.

“I was puzzled by David’s sudden deterioration, and not having been satisfied with the hospitals responses to my questions, I had no choice but to contact a lawyer to try and determine why my husband had died.

“Compensation is not the motivation, in fact, when I contacted a lawyer this had not even crossed my mind. I simply wanted answers for David’s death. I simply wanted an explanation for how and why David had died.

It’s simply about justice and wanting to ensure something like this never happens again.”

Peter Stefanovic, the lawyer who represented Mrs Carr, said: “Sally’s case highlights the fact compensation is not the primary motive when a loved one is lost because of negligent hospital care.

“It’s about getting answers and making sure the hospital accepts responsibility for its part in the death of a patient.

"If people like Sally are prevented by the Government from instructing a lawyer to investigate claims on their behalf, on the grounds of cost, not only will they and their families be denied the answers they so desperately need, the loved ones they have lost will be forever denied the justice they deserve.

"Families like Sally’s will never have the closure they need."