Warminster teen sues her GP over diagnosis delay claim

4:00pm Sunday 10th July 2011 in News

A Warminster teenager is suing her GP for damages of £200,000 after accusing him of failing to diagnose her condition soon enough.

Gaynor Salmons, 18, of Lane End, Corsley, said in a writ issued at London’s High Court and just made publicly available, that her dream of becoming a paediatric nurse had been shattered as a result of her GP’s actions.

She contracted mastoiditis, a rare bone disease causing extensive visual loss, hearing loss, and persistent headaches after he failed to diagnose and treat her ear infections, it is claimed.

Now Miss Salmons is seeking damages from Dr Kevin McBride, of The Avenue, Warminster.

Her solicitor, Philippa Luscombe, said: “We have issued proceedings, but we are still waiting for the defence to respond, which is unusual.

“We have to prove that they got this wrong and also that it has caused damage, so they may try to claim that although they made a mistake it wouldn’t have made any difference. We have the support of expert evidence.”

According to the writ Miss Salmons, who had a history of glue ear, visited Dr McBride in November 2004 with earache, and was told her ear drum had burst, but this was nature’s way of healing.

She was taken home early from school the next month with a painful headache, swelling and dizziness.

It is claimed that Dr McBride said he was 90 per cent sure she had glandular fever but did not want her to go through a blood test and prescribed antibiotics.

Also, that he failed to suspect her middle ear infection had progressed to mastoiditis, and should have sent her to hospital for urgent investigation.

Two days later, she has having problems walking, and she was going cross eyed.

Her condition continued to deteriorate, and she was admitted to Frenchay Hospital for treatment.

Miss Salmons claims if she had been referred to hospital urgently in December 2004 she would have made a very good recovery.

A spokesperson for the Medical Protection Society, acting for Dr McBride, said: “As this is an ongoing matter it would be inappropriate for Dr McBride to comment at this time.”

Comments(12)

redrum says...
5:58pm Sun 10 Jul 11

Actually it sounds to me as if he did his job, this doctor saved my dear friends life many years ago where locums had failed to pick up his illness which would of resulted in death if it had been left another 24 hours. He was trying to save an unpleasant blood test for a youngster which is understandable and gave antibiotics which many others would of done too. I myself had to take my child down to the surgery very ill one day and he was professional,underst
anding and supportive to myself who was desperately worried. I would see and trust this doctor here any day if i had a concern with my health and feel it is wrong for it to be in the press at this stage. Any gp will make the best decision they can at the time with the symptoms apparent and this illness is rare and would be hard to spot and i am sure there are many others who will vouch for this doctor.

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aljpugh says...
6:20pm Sun 10 Jul 11

Gaynor is my best friend, and she told the Wiltshire Times to not print a story about this, so it annoys me that they have, it's her business, nobody elses!

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redrum says...
6:43pm Sun 10 Jul 11

That is journalism though and the paper have obviously found out the story from someone and i am glad they have.

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Skinzo says...
11:19pm Sun 10 Jul 11

Whoever you are 'redrum' you are an absolute mug! Don't give your opinion if you don't even know half of what happened. Not only is the article biased towards Mcbride, it is totally inaccurate! It doesn't even say how close she came to losing her life, how she'll never have her whole eyesight, how she'll never be able to drive, how she had to re learn basic elements of life, how long she spent in hospital, nor does it say how much she struggles to this very day. How can you say 'he's just doing his job'? Everything that happened to her was his fault nobody elses, as her GP it was his responsibility to spot what was wrong with her, but was incapable to do so, personally I think he should have no job and should never be allowed to work as a doctor again.

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redrum says...
6:25am Mon 11 Jul 11

Most doctors you will find save thousands of lives, yet many of them will make an error of judgement at some point as they are only human. If they sent every person on to hospital with these same symptoms how do you think our hospitals would cope. It is unfortunate for the young lady in question i agree, however this doctor does not deserve his name dragged through the dirt because of something like this. I think you will find there are many people who will vounch for him including myself. You cannot expect to get a story like this in the paper and not have people support such a well liked and respected doctor.

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Skinzo says...
1:19pm Mon 11 Jul 11

We'll continue this discussion once tge case is over and justice has been done.

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shutup says...
10:13pm Mon 11 Jul 11

This story has left a very sour after taste WT! Have you taken on an unemployed reporter from News of the world?

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Robathy says...
4:14pm Tue 12 Jul 11

He is my GP too and after going to him regarding serious sinus headaches I was simply given antibiotics for a sinus infection that I was not tested for and nasal inhalers for inflammation control. The inhalers only gave me a nose bleed and the headaches continued. After going to a different GP (Not on purpose, he was away or something), I was referred to ENT at Salisbury Hospital. It was discovered that I have a broken septum causing the headaches and narrow sinuses causing discharge, more than simple inflammation. Being 26 I don't think I needed to be spared a horrible blood test and haven't minded most of my life! What took months to diagnose could have been weeks with the proper course of treatment. That said, he has been sterling where my girlfriend is concerned with an on going medical issue of her own.

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OhThisIsFun says...
1:31pm Wed 13 Jul 11

Its a real shame that the girl feels the need to take legal proceedings, yes he misdiagnosed. But i doubt as a result of a misdiagnosis that the condition would have been avoidable, nor would earlier diagnosis. As others have pointed out, Dr's on the whole are there because they want to help people, care about people and, unfortanately, as humans make mistakes. I emphathise with the girl in the situation but strongly feel that her greivance isnt great enough to warrant actions. Which leads me nicely onto the claimant culture which the UK appears to have gained from our slack jawed cousins over the pond. I never used to list to my father / grandfather that this country was going to the dogs, but as i grow up and we progress, i'm starting to either get more cynical with age or is it a case that it most certainly is, going down the pan!?

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trelawney says...
10:57pm Wed 13 Jul 11

Eh?

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Rosierosie says...
1:10pm Fri 15 Jul 11

I thoroughly agree on all the comments. I had the pleasure or should I say displeasure, of seeing this Dr once, about two weeks later my daughter saw him and he implied my habits contributed to her illness, what business had he to discuss me with my daughter, it breaks the confidentiality code in my view.

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ex-Warminster says...
4:24pm Sun 31 Jul 11

Her solicitor, Philippa Luscombe, said: “We have issued proceedings, but we are still waiting for the defence to respond, which is unusual.

Dr McBride was excellent when I needed treatment but the admin side of things was pretty poor. After I moved, my new doctor eventually gave up waiting for details from them.

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