Thomsons Solicitors estimates claims against NHS Tayside will surpass £100m after the health board pledged to drop the three-year time bar barrier last week. According to Daily Record - Main, Patrick McGuire described the move as a positive step that will reopen opportunities for victims to seek damages. He added that hundreds, if not thousands, of people are anticipated to come forward, though the exact number remains unknown.
Sam Eljamel was head of neurosurgery at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital until his suspension in December 2013, and he left some of his patients with life-changing injuries after performing rogue operations. Victims secured a monumental sit-down to hold crunch talks with health chiefs last month before meeting with First Minister John Swinney, days after they staged a protest calling for one of them to resign. Patients harmed by the rogue medic protested outside Ninewells with 40 bags of shredded paper to represent the destruction of theatre paperwork by the health board.
The health board has finally done something to help victims rather than hinder them. It is a very positive step for every victim of ElJamel because it will reopen the opportunity for those whose cases, until that announcement, had no chance whatsoever of getting compensation to seek damages.
A public inquiry into Eljamel's conduct heard in November that Ninewells logbooks had been destroyed two months prior, with NHS Tayside telling inquiry chair Lord Weir it deeply regretted the error, which it said happened because staff were not aware of the logbooks’ connection with Eljamel. The specific reasons for the destruction are unclear. In a related case, a disgraced colorectal surgeon whose failed mesh procedures harmed more than 450 patients has now cost the NHS close to £20 million in compensation payments.
Anthony Dixon, 65, was removed from the medical register last year following two separate tribunal hearings that determined he had engaged in professional misconduct, though the total number of patients harmed beyond 450 is not confirmed. The total compensation amount for the Eljamel case will ultimately depend on how many claims proceed.
I have no doubt there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of people coming forward. Although not all of their cases will be guaranteed, they will now be given the opportunity to pursue compensation to which they are entitled to.
I don't think it's hyperbolic to say the total compensation bill could exceed £100m if you consider those with life-altering outcomes from ElJamel's butchery, whose lives have been changed forever. Each of those victims will be able to seek compensation for hundreds of thousands of pounds, with some of them into figures of over £1m. When you consider how many victims are out there – several hundred – it's a simple mathematical exercise to recognise that the bill will be in excess of £100m.