Thompsons Solicitors
Telephone08000 224 224
Claim by Text. Standard network rates applyText CLAIM to 82010
close [X]

Call back for new
personal injury claims only

Leave your details to request a call back.

* Required fields

Yes No further information     

You are in: Home Page | Personal Injury | Medical Negligence Claims | Misdiagnosis | Misdiagnosis of Swine Flu

Misdiagnosis of Swine Flu

What is Swine Flu?
  About Swine Flu
Problems with diagnosis of Swine Flu
  How is Swine Flu diagnosed?
Compensation Claims relating to Swine Flu
  Swine Flu claims we have considered
Symptoms of Swine Flu
  How do I know if I have Swine Flu?
Compensation Claim Advice
  How to start a Claim for Compensation

What is Swine Flu?

About Swine Flu

Swine flu is a type of influenza which is thought to have originated in Mexico in April 2009. It has since spread throughout the world's population.

The spread of swine flu in 2009 caused the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) to declare its first pandemic health warning since 1968. A health warning is provided to alert people against the spread of highly infectious viruses and disease. This health warning reaches a pandemic level when it spreads over a certain amount of countries and infects a large number of people. This warning led to many national health authorities around the world activating strategic pandemic management programmes. Within the UK the vast majority of the public who have made contact with swine flu have fought the virus and have survived.

[Back to Top]

Problems with diagnosis of Swine Flu

How is Swine Flu diagnosed?

Swine Flu can only be diagnosed with  100% certainty if laboratory tests are carried out.  When the virus first started spreading, those tests were carried out; however as it became more widespread, the testing ceased and diagnoses were made from examining a person's symptoms alone and taking an educated guess at whether they were suffering from Swine Flu or another illness.  Unfortunately this is when mistakes started happening.

As swine flu reached pandemic status, many GPs advised people with flu-like symptoms not to attend their surgeries due to the risk of passing on the swine flu virus to other patients attending the surgery, because of the highly infectious nature of the virus.

In order to manage the potentially large amount of sufferers and those who may believe they have contracted the virus, NHS Direct rapidly created call centres around the country to provide remote diagnosis of swine flu over the telephone and to allow people to get a prescription of Tamiflu, the drug administered to treat swine flu.

These procedures were put in place to help GPs and medical professionals deal with the outbreak. Although on many occasions this has been successful, there have been cases of misdiagnosis which have, at best, resulted in people facing a delay in receiving treatment for their medical problem, and sadly at worst, causing an exacerbation of the flu condition and even resulting in loss of life.

Many health professionals have expressed concern about the serious mistakes caused by telephone consulting leading to serious illnesses being categorised as swine flu.

If you have been incorrectly diagnosed as having swine flu and it has made the actual condition you have, worse, you may be able to make a personal injury claim for compensation.  To find out if you have a case we can help you with complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms or call us on 08000 224 224.

[Back to Top]

Compensation Claims relating to Swine Flu

Swine Flu claims we have considered

Below, you will find just 2 examples of swine flu-related claims we have considered recently.  If you believe that a misdiagnosis of Swine Flu has caused you harm or you have been  prescribed with a drug in error which has caused you harm, contact us to find out if we can help you make a compensation claim.

Heart condition misdiagnosed as Swine Flu

The patient was presenting with the following symptoms; high temperature, shortness of breath, tiredness and chest pains. He contacted his GP and was diagnosed with swine flu over the telephone and told not to attend the surgery or to leave the house. This diagnosis was made despite the fact that the patient was experiencing chest pains, a symptom which is not associated with swine flu. The patient’s condition deteriorated until an ambulance was finally called and it was confirmed that the patient did not in fact have swine flu, but was suffering with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). Due to the possible misdiagnosis and subsequent lack of treatment, sadly he passed away.

Prescribed Tamiflu in error

A life long user of a blood thinning medication, Warfarin, was diagnosed with swine flu over the telephone. She was prescribed Tamiflu to treat the virus. The patient explained to the call centre staff that she had been taking Warfarin for a number of years but was assured that it was completely safe to take the medications concurrently. A few weeks after completing the course of Tamiflu, the patient sadly suffered a stroke. Doctors have recently been alerted to the fact that a stroke is a potential side effect of prescribing Tamiflu and Warfarin together. In this instance, the claim would be unlikely to succeed as at the time the client was prescribed the medication, there had been no warning issued as to the effect of the combined medications.

For more information about how Thompsons Solicitors can help you, complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms or call us on 08000 224 224.

[Back to Top]

Symptoms of Swine Flu

How do I know if I have Swine Flu?

The symptoms of swine flu are generally as follows:

1. unusual tiredness
2. headache
3. runny nose
4. sore throat
5. shortness of breath or cough
6. loss of appetite
7. aching muscles
8. diarrhoea or vomiting

If you have been diagnosed with swine flu and you have any symptoms in addition to these, you may be suffering with a different illness and it is advisable that you seek advice from your General Practitioner.

If you have been misdiagnosed with Swine Flu and the misdiagnosis has caused you some harm, you may be able to make a personal injury claim for compensation.  To find out if Thompsons Solicitors can help you make a claim, complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms or call us on 08000 224 224.

[Back to Top]

Compensation Claim Advice

How to start a Claim for Compensation

Thompsons Solicitors have years of experience in dealing with cases of misdiagnosis of medical conditions.

If you or anyone you know has suffered from any form of medical misdiagnosis or clinical negligence, telephone us now for accurate claim advice.

There are strict time limits in place to make any personal injury compensation claim. For further information, contact us or visit our Questions Answered page.

Thompsons Solicitors are experts in all matters relating to clinical negligence and will be able to advise you as to whether or not you have a valid claim for compensation. Our specialist clinical negligence lawyers will be happy to talk you through the process of making a claim in plain English and will be happy to answer any questions or queries you may have.

Telephone us now on 08000 224 224 or complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms.

[Back to Top]