Pensioner fights for pre-NHS damages

Published on Saturday 16 May 2009 19:53

A PENSIONER has begun a fight for new rules that would provide compensation to patients who suffered medical negligence before the establishment of the National Health Service.

James McNeill, 73, from Penicuik was given a massive X-ray overdose on his right hand in 1942 when he was just six years old.

The negligent treatment that he received when he was a boy living in Drumnadrochit, near Inverness, has led to years of agony and many operations.

McNeill has been fighting for compensation, but has been told that because his case pre-dates the creation of the NHS in 1948, it does not fall within the jurisdiction of the present Health Service.

McNeill has now submitted a petition to the Parliament, which has been supported by 200 people including representatives of the medical profession.

The petition calls on the "Scottish Parliament to compel the Scottish Government to establish a discretionary compensation scheme to provide redress to persons who suffered injury due to negligent medical treatment prior to the establishment of the NHS."

Last night McNeill explained that he had gone to hospital as a boy to receive treatment for warts that had appeared on his hands, ankles and knees.

For some reason, his right had was exposed to X-ray treatment for around two minutes.

McNeill's hand was severely damaged and withered, injuries that interfered with his work for the Forestry Commission.

"After it happened, I was reassured that the damage would heal within four or five years. When that didn't happen, my hand was given a wax bath," he said.

"In 1947, I was sent to Stobhill in Glasgow for my first skin graft."

McNeill has had several operations on his hand. "But it doesn't really improve it," he said.

"I am hoping that if this succeeds it might help others who have the same problem. People make mistakes and things can go wrong, but I am seeking a duty of care and responsibility for the damage that was done.

"Just because it was pre-1948 shouldn't mean anything. There ought to be a moral obligation for me to receive some help."