This guide will explain how to claim medical negligence compensation for harm caused by undiagnosed lactose intolerance. You might have suffered the symptoms unnecessarily if doctors failed to carry out the tests needed to diagnose your condition. Alternatively, you might have been told that you were lactose intolerant when you were actually suffering from another condition.
Undiagnosed lactose intolerance claims guide
Medical practitioners owe their patients a duty of care. This means they must provide an appropriate standard of care. If the practitioner, such as a doctor, provides substandard care that causes harm that could have been avoided, this is medical negligence. If you’ve been harmed by medical negligence, you could be entitled to claim.
Please contact our team today to see if you are eligible to claim compensation. Medical Negligence Assist work with a panel of knowledgeable medical negligence solicitors. A skilled lawyer from the panel could work on your claim and help you get the compensation you deserve. To begin your claim enquiry, please get in contact today.
- Call our helpline on 0800 652 3087
- Fill out our form to see if you can claim online
- Use the live chat feature on our page now
Select A Section
- What Is Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance?
- How Doctors Could Misdiagnose A Lactose Intolerance
- What Is The Time Limit To Claim For Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance?
- How Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance Could Impact Someone – A Case Study
- How Much Could I Claim For Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance?
- Why Contact Our Team?
What Is Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance?
Lactose intolerance is a digestive condition where the person’s body cannot digest lactose. Lactose is a kind of sugar found in milk and dairy products. Intolerance to lactose can result in unpleasant digestive symptoms such as stomach cramps and pains or diarrhoea within a few hours of being consumed.
If a patient has undiagnosed lactose intolerance, they may continue consuming milk and dairy products and suffer the associated symptoms. Alternatively, if someone is diagnosed with lactose intolerance but actually have another condition, this could mean that they don’t get treatment for the condition that they’re suffering from or that treatment is delayed.
A misdiagnosis of lactose intolerance will not always be the result of negligence. If a doctor adhered to the duty of care they owed you, and you were misdiagnosed despite this, then you’d be unable to claim.
Furthermore, you must have been caused harm by the misdiagnosis in order to claim. If you were misdiagnosed, but this did not have an impact on your quality of life (for example, because you received the correct diagnosis within an hour and acted accordingly), then this would not be the basis for a claim.
How Doctors Could Misdiagnose A Lactose Intolerance
You may wonder how doctors diagnose lactose intolerance. Doctors may carry out the following diagnostic tests:
- Elimination diets, where you remove lactose from your diet
- A milk tolerance or lactose tolerance test
- A hydrogen breath test
- A small bowel biopsy to rule out other conditions, such as coeliac disease
A misdiagnosis of lactose intolerance can happen if a negligent doctor fails to perform the proper diagnostic tests, for example. Or a negligent GP may dismiss the patient’s symptoms and fail to refer the patient to a specialist.
What Symptoms Of Lactose Intolerance Could Doctors Spot?
Symptoms of lactose intolerance can include the following:
- Flatulence
- Diarrhoea
- Stomach bloating
- Feeling sick
- Cramps and pains in the stomach
- Stomach rumbling
What Is The Time Limit To Claim For Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance
You could claim medical negligence compensation for harm caused by negligence if a doctor negligently misdiagnosed your lactose intolerance in a way that caused you harm. Under the Limitation Act 1980, the time limit to start a claim for medical negligence is normally three years.
The limitation period can start when the misdiagnosis occurs or when you connected negligence with the ill effects you experienced. However, in some cases, this time limit can be affected.
For example, if someone was harmed by medical negligence while under the age of 18, or if the claimant doesn’t have the mental capacity to pursue compensation themselves, then the time limit is suspended. It starts again in the event that they become capable of claiming. In the meantime, a litigation friend could claim on their behalf.
If you have proof of medical negligence harming you, please contact our team to see if you can claim.
How Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance Could Impact Someone – A Case Study
We will now look at a case study involving Mr S. Mr S began to experience symptoms that indicated something was wrong with his digestive system. His doctor diagnosed him with lactose intolerance.
However, Mr S was actually suffering from a stomach ulcer that was causing him sickness, pain, heartburn and weight loss. Because he was diagnosed with lactose intolerance, he did not receive antibiotics and was hospitalised for internal bleeding after a stomach ulcer burst. Furthermore, after receiving the wrong diagnosis, he lost weight and felt weak, fatigued and dizzy, affecting his quality of life.
If you have experienced something similar and would like to see if you could claim for undiagnosed lactose intolerance caused by negligence, speak with a member of our team today.
How Much Could I Claim For Undiagnosed Lactose Intolerance?
If your claim for an undiagnosed lactose intolerance succeeds, you can receive up to two heads of claim. These are:
- General damages – for the mental and physical pain caused by your injuries.
- Special damages – for the financial losses your injuries caused you to incur. For example, this could include a loss of income if you had to take unpaid sick leave.
To calculate how much your general damages payment could be worth, please look up your injuries in the table. The table can be used as an alternative to a medical negligence compensation calculator.
The compensation brackets are not guaranteed payments. However, they are based on the 16th edition of the guidelines from the Judicial College, which medical negligence solicitors use to help value claims. Special damages compensation is not included in our table.
| Injury/ Illness | Payouts | About The Illnesses |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Traumatic Illness/ Injury (i) | £38,430 to £52,500 | Severe harm resulting in acute pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and fever for days or weeks. |
| Non-Traumatic Illness/ Injury (ii) | £9,540 to £19,200 | Illnesses such as food poisoning which cause sickness and diarrhoea which diminish over a period of 2 to 4 weeks. |
| Non-Traumatic Illness/ Injury (iii) | £3,950 to £9,540 | Food poisoning which causes stomach cramps, discomfort and which alters bowel function. The person may need to be admitted to hospital for several days. |
| Non-Traumatic Illness/ Injury (iv) | £910 to £3,950 | The person could experience diarrhoea, cramps and varying degrees of pain which last for days to weeks. |
Alternatively, you can call our advisors, who can offer you a compensation claim valuation based on your circumstances.
Why Contact Our Team?
One of the solicitors from our panel may be able to help you make a delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis claim. To see if you meet the criteria to claim, please contact our team. If you are eligible to pursue a settlement, they may be able to provide you with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel to work on your case.
Generally, working with a No Win No Fee solicitor means that:
- You don’t pay a legal fee before work begins on your claim or as it progresses.
- You will pay a success fee instead if you win your claim. Under the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, the success fee is charged at a legally capped rate.
- There is nothing to pay your lawyer in the event that your claim fails.
Please get in contact today to see if you can claim compensation for the misdiagnosis of your lactose intolerance.
- Call our team on 0800 652 3087
- Complete our form to request to claim online
- Use the live chat feature below
Learn More About How To Claim
We have included these resources, so you can learn more about making a clinical negligence claim.
What Is The Average Settlement For Cancer Misdiagnosis?
Diabetes Misdiagnosis Compensation Claims
Stomach Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Claims
Lactose intolerance – a guide from Allergy UK
Allergy UK – Food Diary
Understanding “lactose-free” labels- Food Standards Agency
Please get in touch with Medical Negligence Assist to ask more about claiming compensation for injuries caused by undiagnosed lactose intolerance.
Guide by Hana
Edited by Fern