Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Expert Joins the Firm
ONE of the country’s first solicitors to win substantial damages for a client infected with the hospital superbug MRSA, has joined Coole+Haddock. Parisa Costigan, who won the ground-breaking case on behalf on an NHS patient, is a new partner at the Horsham office.
Parisa, an expert in personal injury and clinical negligence, has more than 20 years’ experience in these fields. She specialises in complex cases, often acting for children and the vulnerable. Although a gagging clause prevents her from speaking in detail about the MRSA case, or from identifying her client, she confirms that she won ‘very satisfactory’ damages on behalf of a patient whose leg had to be amputated after she contracted the infection in hospital.
‘The lady had gone into hospital for elective surgery. She was having a routine operation, but it was not an emergency. As a result of the procedure she contracted MRSA in her hip joint and had to have her leg amputated,’ says Parisa.
‘The situation was unusual. A patient who contracts an infection does not necessarily have a claim, but in this case the hospital was aware that there was a problem with MRSA in the ward, but decided to take a risk without my client’s knowledge. They also did so knowing that this lady’s operation was not an emergency and could have been postponed.
‘It was an extremely rare case and one of the first of its kind to be settled successfully in England.’
Parisa, who is married and in her 40s, joins Coole+Haddock from a south London firm having also worked for solicitors in West Sussex and Hampshire. She brings a wealth of experience to the Horsham and Worthing-based solicitors and is both a member of the Law Society’s specialist Personal Injury Panel and a senior member of the Association of Personal Injury Solicitors.
She also volunteers with the charity Action for Victims of Medical Accidents which provides free advice, through a phone helpline.
Parisa also offers this reassurance to potential clients worried about the cost of making compensation claims: she confirms that Coole+Haddock often acts on a no win no fee basis, or under the terms of clients’ legal expenses insurance. This means that there is often little or no initial cost to the client.
‘In any event, however a case is funded, if it is successful the costs are recovered from the defendant – which means our clients are left with their compensation intact,’ she says.
She says her ultimate aim is to help her clients rebuild their shattered lives. ‘My obligation is to my clients, who have been injured through no fault of their own,’ she says. ‘I try to help them in as sensitive, sensible and cost-effective way possible.’
This means she endeavours, whenever possible, not to incur extra expense and delays by dragging cases through court. ‘Where at all possible I aim to settle disputes through negotiation rather than costly and time-consuming litigation,’ she confirms.
She says that it is often defendant hospitals – rather than the claimant's lawyers (who frequently unfairly take the brunt of criticism), who draw out cases by failing to admit liability. ‘The longer the defendant argues the case, the longer it takes to be resolved – and inevitably the higher the costs,’ she says.
Parisa adds, ‘I am very pleased to have joined Coole+Haddock and look forward to helping and advising local people at what can often be a difficult and traumatic time, when they are suffering from an injury which prevents them from leading their normal lives.’
Outside work, Parisa lives with her family in Pulborough and enjoys walking on the South Downs and eating out.
For a free, no obligation chat with Parisa Costigan, please phone 01403 224608 or call into the Coole+Haddock offices at 14, Carfax, Horsham.
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