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| Nosebleed death forces Free
to pay |
Hospital will not accept liability
THE deep-in-debt Royal Free Hospital has paid out £650,000
compensation plus legal costs after a routine operation for a nosebleed
led to the death of the painter Lucian Freud’s personal picture
framer.
The hospital in Pond Street, Hampstead, paid out the money to the
family of Riccardo Giaccherini, who worked with Freud for years
and had his frames hung across Eurpoe’s most prestigious galleries.
Mr Giaccherini, then 49, of Golders Green, was left in a persistent
vegetative state after what should have been a 20-minute operation
stop a nose bleed in 2000.
Anne Winyard, the family’s lawyer, insisted the brain damage
was caused by a lack of oxygen when he came round from the operation.
He died a year later. The Royal Free has denied liability but settled
last month, shortly before the case was due to go to trial on Monday,
more than four years after the operation.
Ms Winyard said: “The family is relieved that the case has
finally come to an end but it is regrettable that the Royal Free
carried on the case for so long, escalating the costs on both sides.
“The result is that money which could have been better spent
on NHS patients care has been wasted in a long legal battle.”
In addition to his work for Freud, Giaccherini, who had his workshop
in Soho, had carved the frame for a portrait of Diana, Princess
of Wales by Nelson Shanks, one of America’s most distinguished
artists.
His family was told the operation would take just 20 minutes but
it lasted more than two hours and the framer emerged severely brain-damaged.
A spokesman for the Free said: “We regret the complications
that occurred following Mr Giaccherini’s treatment in March
2000.
“The trust has reached an out of court settlement with Mr Giaccherini’s
family.
“In doing so we have not accepted any liability. “However
we have investigated this matter and provided a letter of explanation
to Mr Giaccherini’s family through their solicitors, on September
5, 2002.
“The parties legal teams have worked together with the NHS
litigation authority to reach this settlement.
“Unfortunately this process takes some time to complete.” |
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Don't waste your finest on relatives
DO you enjoy or endure Christmas? It isn’t only that we’re
bullied into spending money we haven’t got.
FULL STORY
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