Bristol heart scandal goes on and on

IN MARCH Michelmores reported the settlement of another claim in the Bristol heart surgery scandal by South West Strategic Health Authority. The settlement figure was equivalent to a £5.5m lump sum.

The latest case concerned CD, a 24-year-old client of Michelmores partner Laurence Vick – who was joint lead solicitor to the Bristol Heart Children Action Group – and Michael Vian Clark.

CD was born with pulmonary valve atresia, a congenital heart defect which meant that insufficient oxygenated blood was able to get to her brain. She needed a combination of palliative treatment to improve her short-term condition and surgical repair to correct her cardiac anatomy.

CD suffered brain damage because the surgeon Janardan Dhasmana constructed a Gore Tex shunt that was too long, so it kinked in the middle, but did not check for that before completing the operation, meaning the blood flow did not increase and CD’s oxygen levels did not rise. As a result she developed white matter damage called periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) due to hypoxia after the first shunt operation. She later went on to have a good anatomical repair of her cardiac defects.

After a successful six-day High Court liability trial there were disputes between the parties about how much care CD would need and how long she would live. The case was listed for a quantum trial in October last year but the defendant agreed to hold a round table meeting to discuss settlement in the May.

The public inquiry into the deaths of children at Bristol Royal Infirmary became the largest public inquiry in the history of the NHS and was held between October 1998 and July 2001.

The BRI’s chief executive in the period up to 1998, Dr John Roylance, and medical director/surgeon Mr James Wisheart had been struck off by the GMC in that year for serious professional misconduct and Mr Janardan Dhasmana banned from operating on children. Mr Dhasmana is now believed to be practising medicine at a hospital in the Himalayas in India.