Bereaved Partner Jakki wins landmark case

Jakki met her partner, John, at work. They were together 16 years before a series of events would change her life forever. In April 2011, John had a benign tumour removed from his foot. After the surgery he started acting strangely and was transferred to a psychiatric ward. Jakki thought he was medically and not psychologically ill – his foot was weeping and obviously infected - but he didn’t get any medical treatment for it. Six days later, he collapsed and was transferred to the main hospital. He was in hospital for just three days before he tragically passed away.

Jakki wanted accountability for the mistakes that she believed were made and to find out exactly what had gone wrong and went on to win her medical negligence case. However, she then found out she wasn't entitled to bereavement damages because they weren't married.

Not being married meant she had no say on processes, such as the claiming death certificate and making decisions over organ donations and Jakki wanted to change this. With the help of Slater and Gordon's medical negligence experts, she launched a landmark battle against the Government for breaching her human rights.

Our specialist medical negligence lawyers were passionate about getting Jakki the justice she so deserved and fought the case on her behalf. They took it to the Court of Appeal and it ruled in her favour. This landmark case changed the law.

If you or a loved one has suffered medical negligence, contact our team of experts today.