Medical negligence

[David]

I have searched the forums, but cannot find any reference to this subject, so I would be grateful if anybody could direct me to a relevant posting.

By medical negligence I mean a bungled operation in France on my knee which looks like leaving me a permanent cripple.

Would also be grateful for any advice about obtaining a blue badge for parking, and how to obtain an invalidity card.  I ask the last one, as when I was a the local tax office this week they told me that I should see my doctor to get an official invalidity card.  Also does anyone know what an invalidity card is in France, as I do not know of a UK equivalent?

Many thanks in anticipation.

 

[Will]

What exactly did you want to know about 'medical negligence'? A user of our Normandy forum had a very similar experience last year courtesy of the French hospital system.

[Val_2]

As regards invalidity parking etc, you must be deemed 80% minimum disabled here in France to qualify. I know because elderly friends of mine recently(February) went before the disability tribunal to try and get the parking disc and all that goes with it and they said they were nowhere near this disabled even though the woman can only walk a limited distance after bungled operations in the UK on her feet have left her with crumbling bones in both feet and she has to use a stick. The husband has severe disc damage in his back and cannot walk far either. Their french doctor is furious at this decision and is pursuing it further.

[David]

Thank you for your replies.

I am sorry to be so slow in answering, but we have had a lot to cope with lately.

What I meant by asking the question was whether any one had experience of persuing a medical negligence claim in France; whether they found it difficult; did they have difficulty in finding French doctors to testify on their behalf, etc.

In my case, I tore the tendon off my right kneecap, was taken to A&E, who x-rayed and found no broken bones, sent me home.  Two days later I saw the local surgeon who said "bizzare" and prescribed a linseed mud-pack - REALLY!.  Ten days later on follow up visit, torn tendon was found by ultra sound scan.  Local surgeon immediately moved into helpful mode, and instead of referring me to a knee specialist bungled the operation himself.  This left me, after one year now, unable to walk and in a wheel chair.

After much pushing - my GP has been great, I have seen one hospital, and two specialists who said it was too difficult to operate.  That was when I considered legal action.  However, the second specialist was honest and said he had no experience in repairing the problem, and referred me to what he described as "God" - a professor.

I have now seen the professor who has agreed to operate and repair the damage.  This will be difficult and take many operations, but he says I will walk again.  That is all I wanted, so I no longer consider legal action.

Why I wondered about getting a French doctor to testify, was that initially (hospital and the first specialist) assumed that the original operation had taken place in UK, and seemed to be rubbing their hands in glee.  When they realised the operation was French, they beat an immediate retreat, and basically did not want to know.

The professor did not concern himself with this aspect, but asked if I had a copy of the "protocol" of the operation, which I did not have.  He is going to demand that document.

Many thanks for your replies,

David

[Teamedup]

After several ops in this family we have always been issued with a letter stating exactly what had been done. I suppose that this would be the operation protocol.

One thing I do know is that even after accidents and the initial A&E thing if it is more serious, we always ask around including our GP and find the surgeon with the best reputation to go and see, even if it means a wait.

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I have heard that is hard here to do anything about medical malpractice, I imagine it is anywhere really,  hopefully you will get sorted out now.

Good luck.