Hospital facing compensation claims
STEPPING Hill Hospital faces a multi-million pound bill to compensate the victims of killer nurse Victorino Chua.
It is understood most of his 21 victims or their families have instructed lawyers to sue the hospital’s trust.
Grant Misell, 41, can expect the largest pay out as he suffered a serious brain injury after he was poisoned by Chua.
He had worked as a financial markets manager before he his ‘catastrophic’ injury.
Manchester-based Slater Gordon solicitors are representing Mr Misell, from Cheadle Hulme, and a number of other patients, some of whom argue that the hospital failed to do enough to prevent the later incidents once they knew a poisoner was at work.
His lawyer Stephen Jones, who is representing several of those affected, said patients and their families could be entitled to ‘significant’ damages.
He said: “Every hospital has a duty of care towards its patients yet instead these people were failed in the place where they should have felt most safe.
“It is our view that if proper systems and safeguards were in place then these tragedies would never have happened.
“Two of the cases were fatal and others now have to live with long-term health problems as a result.
“It is impossible to put a figure on it at this stage until each of the individual cases have been properly assessed, but in the case of those people who have suffered life-changing injuries the potential payouts will be significant and could stretch into hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
Another firm, Irwin Mitchell, is also representing a number of clients including Zubia Aslam, 27, who suffered a hypoglycemic attack after the hospital and police had suspected a poisoner was at work.
Zubia said: “This verdict provides some closure to me and the other families involved in this process.
“At least someone has been brought to justice and it gives a little peace of mind but it still feels as though there is a scar left after all of this, a scar which will fade with time but which will never go away.
“Life has not been the same and never will be. This has turned my life upside down, but also that of my family and I still have questions about how this was allowed to happen in the first place.
“What measures have been taken to date and will be taken going forward to ensure that this never happens again?”
Alexandra Barrie, medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Our clients have been through an horrendous time over the past few years, often leaving them angry, frustrated and in some distress. Hearing evidence presented at the trial has been extremely difficult for them to deal with.
“They are relieved that the jury has delivered a guilty verdict in relation to their cases as it gives them some closure on what happened at Stepping Hill after years of fighting for answers.
“However, it is now imperative that the NHS Trust moves quickly to reassure those affected that its systems and procedures are of the highest standard and that improvements have been made across the country to reduce the risk of any similar incidents of this nature in future.”