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Hugh James > News Centre > News Library > 2011 > March > legal expert on CJD threat

Legal expert comments on CJD threat to Welsh patients

 

29 | 03 | 11

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One of Wales’ leading clinical negligence lawyers, Stephen Webber,  has expressed concern that  people affected by  today’s news that patients may have been put at risk of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) during surgery in south Wales, may find it more difficult to gain legal redress than  in previous cases.

 

Letters have been sent out to 38 patients in Wales after it was found someone who had an operation in an Abertawe Bro Morgannwg hospital in 2007 was at high risk. The surgical instruments were then used in other operations but officials say transmission risk was "extremely low". The subsequent operations took place between 2007 and 2009 and health officials called it the first incident "of this magnitude" in Wales. Thirty seven of the patients are from mid and west Wales and one is from north Wales.

 

CJD is a rare fatal disease that causes degeneration of nervous tissues, for example in the brain and spinal cord. Hugh James lawyers have represented a number of clients affected by the condition over recent years. Hugh James Partner, Stephen Webber, said “We are concerned to hear about this latest incident and although the risks of infection are low it is not the first time that patients have been affected by CJD in an NHS procedure.  A member of the team at Hugh James represented a lead claimant in the CJD/HGH Litigation who received contaminated human growth hormone back in the early 1990s and helped obtain compensation for the psychiatric effects, as well as ensuring that they had immediate and long term support for coping with their condition.  We need assurances that lessons will be learnt to prevent this threat appearing again”.

 

“The law has changed recently, and we fear that it may be more difficult to obtain compensation unless patients suffer physical injury in the long term.   If no dedicated scheme is set up to compensate claimants, it will make any legal action more difficult as the incubation period for CJD can be a very long one.”