Sepsis Misdiagnosis Claims

Sepsis, also know as septicaemia moves fast. When it's caught late, or treated late, the damage can be lifelong. If you're here, you're probably wondering whether what happened to you, or to someone you love, should have been caught sooner.

You don't have to work that out on your own. Our medical negligence team can look at what happened and give you a clear, honest answer about where you stand.

What Counts as Sepsis Medical Negligence?

Not every case of sepsis is negligence.

Sepsis is fast-moving and can be difficult to spot, even for experienced clinicians. But if a doctor, nurse or paramedic missed signs they should have caught, or delayed treatment they should have started sooner, you may have a claim.

The legal test asks whether your care fell below the standard a competent clinician would have provided. NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines set out clear steps for recognising and treating sepsis quickly.

When a healthcare professional doesn't follow them, and you're harmed as a result, that failure can amount to negligence.

Common Types of Sepsis Claims We Investigate

Sepsis claims look different depending on where and when things went wrong. Here are the situations we see most often.

Delayed Diagnosis in Hospital

If you're in A&E, on a ward, in intensive care, or having a baby, staff should keep a close eye on you if you show signs of infection. Sometimes sepsis isn't picked up quickly enough, even when your symptoms and test results point to it. Other times, staff notice you're getting worse but don't escalate it to a senior doctor.

This can include;

• Delays in blood tests
• Gaps between checks on your vital signs
• Delay is administering medication
• Missed abnormal results like a raised lactate (a marker that can signal sepsis)
• Poor handover between shifts, or
• Not investigating where your infection came from.

Your medical records usually hold the answers, because they show exactly what staff knew and when they acted on it.

GP and Out-of-Hours Care

Most infections don't turn into sepsis, so a GP doesn't need to send every patient with an infection to hospital. The question is whether your symptoms and risk factors should have prompted an urgent in-person appointment, a hospital referral, clear advice on what to watch for, or further tests.

You may have a claim if;

• You reported worsening symptoms more than once
• Showed signs of a serious infection
• Fell into a higher-risk group, or
• Were reassured without a proper examination.

This includes phone or video consultations. If a clinician didn't ask the right questions or arrange to see you in person despite worrying symptoms.

Sepsis After Surgery

Sepsis can develop after an operation if staff don't spot and treat an infection quickly enough. This might involve

• A fever that wasn't investigated
• A wound that was discharging fluid
• Increasing pain
• Stomach symptoms
• Blood tests showing signs of infection, or
• A decline in your condition after you'd gone home.

Some cases involve an infected surgical wound, a leak from the bowel, material left behind after surgery, an abscess, or follow-up care that fell short.

Even when the operation itself was carried out properly, staff can still miss warning signs afterwards. We look at both your surgery and your aftercare when we investigate these claims.

Sepsis in Pregnancy, Birth and Newborn Babies

Sepsis needs fast, careful attention during pregnancy, after birth, and in newborn babies. Claims here can involve;

• An infection during pregnancy
• Group B Streptococcus (a common bacteria that can cause serious infection in newborns)
• An infected caesarean wound
• Tissue left behind after a miscarriage or birth
• A urinary infection that wasn't treated in time, or
• A baby's deteriorating condition that wasn't picked up.

These cases are often complex, so we bring in specialist medical experts to help build your claim.

When Sepsis Leads to a Death

If you've lost someone you love to sepsis, you're likely looking for answers as much as anything else. A claim may help you get them, and could cover funeral costs, financial support you've lost, and other losses connected to their death, alongside compensation where the law allows it.

No claim can undo your loss. But finding out whether avoidable failings played a part can still matter, both for you and for making sure it doesn't happen to someone else.

Who Can Bring a Sepsis Claim?

You can bring a claim yourself if you developed sepsis and you're living with the consequences. Whether that's a lasting injury, a longer recovery, or the impact it's had on your work and daily life.

If you've lost a family member to sepsis, you can bring a claim on their behalf, as their estate, or as a dependant who relied on them financially or for care. Either way, a claim isn't just about money. Getting answers about what happened and why is just as important.

How Ringrose Law Handles Your Sepsis Claim

We know this isn't just a legal process for you. It's personal. That's why we keep things simple and keep you informed at every step.

1. Get in touch. Call us or fill in our online form for a free, no-obligation conversation. We'll listen to what happened and tell you honestly whether we think you have a claim.
2. We review your medical records. With your permission, we request your notes and work with independent medical experts to establish whether your care fell short of an acceptable standard.
3. We handle your claim for you. If you have a case, we'll take it forward on a No Win No Fee basis, dealing with the NHS Trust or provider so you can focus on recovering or grieving, not paperwork.

You'll always know what's happening and what comes next. You'll never be left chasing us for updates.

Time Limits for Making a Sepsis Compensation Claim

You usually have three years to bring a medical negligence claim, starting from either:

• The date sepsis was missed or mistreated, or
• The date you first realised something had gone wrong, whichever is later.

There are exceptions.

If you're claiming for a child, the three-year clock doesn't start until their 18th birthday. If the person affected lacks the mental capacity to bring a claim themselves, there may be no time limit at all.

Three years sounds like a long time, but medical records take time to gather and expert opinions take time to prepare. The sooner you speak to us, the more time you give yourself.

Funding Your Claim: No Win No Fee

Money worries shouldn't stop you from finding out if you have a claim. That's why we offer, where possible, No Win No Fee agreements for sepsis claims.

Here's what that means for you in plain terms: if your claim doesn't succeed, you won't pay our legal fees.

If it does succeed, we'll agree a success fee with you upfront, taken from your compensation, so there are no surprises later. We'll walk you through exactly how this works before you decide anything.

What Compensation May Cover

Every sepsis claim is different, so we can't put a figure on yours until we understand what happened to you. But compensation typically falls into two categories.

1. General damages cover your pain, suffering and the impact on your quality of life.
2. Special damages cover your actual financial losses. Including lost earnings, the cost of care or rehabilitation, home adaptations, and any ongoing medical treatment you need because of what happened.

We'll talk you through what you might be entitled to claim for, based on your specific circumstances.

Case study: £3 Million For a Mother Left With Complex PTSD After Postnatal Sepsis

After giving birth, our client had surgery to remove a retained placenta but was not given the course of antibiotics the Trust’s own guidelines required. She developed sepsis and needed High Dependency Unit care. In the months that followed, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD and spent long periods in psychiatric care, and she has been unable to return to her career as a specialist dentist.

The Trust admitted the antibiotic failure but disputed that it caused her psychiatric injury. We issued proceedings and secured a settlement of more than £3 million to cover her care, lost earnings and pension, and future treatment.

Read Case Study

Why Choose Ringrose Law?

Sepsis claims are rarely straightforward. They often turn on complex medical evidence and disputed causation. So you need a legal team that understands the medicine as well as the law.

You don't need to already know whether you have a claim before you get in touch. We take the time to understand what happened to you and help you work out if you have a claim.

We've been supporting people across Lincolnshire, the East Midlands, and right across the UK and Nottinghamshire for over 100 years.

We hold Lexcel accreditation, the Law Society's mark of excellence in legal practice management, and we've held it for over 17 years. John Knight, Head of our  our medical negligence team, brings 30 years experience to sepsis and clinical negligence claims.