Compensation claims can arise from injury, or even death, caused by a blood clot. At Blake Lapthorn solicitors, our Clinical Negligence team will use its expertise to investigate your case if you may have suffered injury caused by medical negligence relating to a blood clot.

We are also frequently asked to investigate cases where death has resulted from an undiagnosed blood clot. In those circumstances, a claim can be brought by family members on behalf of the estate of the patient, and/or in their capacity as dependents.

Claims for compensation occur where there has been negligence. For example failures to:

• take proper preventative measures such as anti-deep vein thrombosis stockings, or to administer an anticoagulant of the blood, in the context of elective surgery
• diagnose the occurrence of smaller pulmonary emboli before a fatal embolism occurs
• recognise the risk factors in which blood clots occur, such as immobility for a fractured leg, pelvic surgery, other leg injuries, plaster casts on the leg, childbirth and long distance travel
  

A venous thrombosis may be the cause of a personal injury claim. In this condition, known as deep vein thrombosis or 'DVT', the blood clots in the larger veins - usually in the legs. Later, the blood clot may dislodge, travelling through the large veins to the heart and into the lungs. This is known as a 'pulmonary embolism'.

The consequences of a blood clot depends upon its size. A clot may have the following effects:

• sudden death - if the clot is large enough to block up the heart, or the very large blood vessels entering the lungs
• unexplained collapse, often associated with chest pain - a moderate sized blood clot will travel through the circulation and lodge in the lungs. It will be sufficiently large to cause the patient to collapse but the patient may be able to survive the episode. If the correct diagnosis is not made, further blood clots may follow, or the clot can start to spread (propagation of the clot) causing the circulation to deteriorate, with a serious threat to the patient’s life
• chest pain, with breathlessness and possibly pleuritic pain - A patient can survive a small pulmonary embolus. This is however often a warning sign. Unless the blood is anti-coagulated then further clots may occur, possibly with fatal consequences 

Contact the Clinical Negligence team

Telephone us on 0844 620 6200
Email us at blclaims@bllaw.co.uk