Two hospital doctors receive claims after a delayed cancer diagnosis, which Medical Protection eventually takes to trial.

After a serious car crash, Dr C is called before an inquest – Medical Protection is called in to support.

Mr B was a 31 year old man with three children. His mother was staying with him over the weekend because he was in bed coughing and shivering.

Patient A, a 57-year-old male, was admitted to the ICU of a private hospital with kidney and liver failure, and in a coma. There was no living will and family members gave a history of long-standing alcohol abuse.

Miss A, a 40-year-old IT consultant, was talking to a colleague at work when she developed a headache, along with blurred vision and nausea.

Complaints in health and social care: standards and guidelines for resolution and learning (2009) aims to provide a simple, consistent approach for staff who handle complaints, and for patients who raise complaints across all health and social care services.

Mr Y was a 21-year-old unemployed man who lived with his mother. He was a heroin addict and in the last few months, he had started injecting into his groin. Each day he was spending about £40 on heroin and cocaine and had recently served a prison sentence for burglary to fund his habit.

Twenty-eight-year-old Miss T was a pillion passenger on her boyfriend’s motorbike going at high speed on a motorway. He lost control of the vehicle and tried to regain it by braking, which threw them both over the handles, landing some distance away. Unfortunately, Miss T’s boyfriend was certified dead at the scene of the accident.

Mr P was a 30-year-old high-earning banker, married with three dependants. He had a one-year history of rheumatoid arthritis, for which he took methotrexate.

A seven-year old girl, MA, complained to her mother of stomach ache. She was usually very stoical, but was complaining and not wanting to play. Her mother, Mrs A, was concerned and rang the surgery to speak to her GP, Dr G.

Mr U, a 39-year-old print worker, attended his local Emergency Department (ED) one evening with a six-hour history of vomiting and abdominal discomfort. The symptoms had come on shortly after eating a takeaway meal. He was seen by Dr A, a doctor-in-training on the emergency medicine rotation. Dr A documented a detailed abdominal examination which showed no evidence of an acute abdomen. Dr A diagnosed acute gastritis or early gastroenteritis and advised Mr U to go home, rest, and see his GP the next day if things had not settled down.

Dr L, a junior doctor, was working on the afternoon shift in the emergency medicine department. He had started the job eight weeks before, but due to shift patterns this was only his second time in the children’s area.

Mr P was a 17-year-old student who attended the Minor Injuries Unit at his local A&E department after a fight. He walked in and sat in the waiting area with a friend. The triage nurse offered him some analgesia but he refused it.

K was an active 14-year-old boy, keen on skateboarding and football. When he came home after a day’s skateboarding complaining of intense pain in his groin and abdomen, his father was alarmed and took him directly to his local A&E department. Four years earlier, K had developed testicular torsion resulting in the loss of his left testis; his father was understandably fearful that now K’s remaining testicle was also at risk.

Mr S was a 51-year-old warehouse worker with no medical problems. He was lifting a very heavy box at work when he felt a severe pain to his lower back with some radiation to his right buttock. He was sent home, and his wife drove him to their local A&E department.

Physicians often care for patients with extremely complex clinical presentations and multiple diagnoses. In such a situation, it can be hard to keep track of all the relevant problems and investigation results.

Mr P, a 35-year-old panel beater, saw his GP, Dr S, as he’d developed sudden headache and neck pain whilst bending down to pick up a screwdriver.

Gary, a 12-year-old schoolboy, received a blow to the back of his right hand whilst playing. He attended a rural A&E department where an x-ray showed a comminuted fracture of the head of the third metacarpal.

Miss Y was a healthy, happy schoolgirl until the age of 15 when she started getting headaches. She saw a locum at her GP practice, giving a six-month history of persistent headaches with vomiting and a stiff, twisted neck. She mentioned a family history of migraines. The doctor diagnosed migraine and prescribed analgesia and pizotifen.