Women traumatised by mesh implants who were then exploited by a lying solicitor have said they have lost all faith in the legal profession.
The Gazette has spoken to several former clients of Darren Hanison, a clinical negligence lawyer who was struck off last week for a catalogue of misconduct in handling their claims.
These women then shared intimate details of their suffering following allegedly negligent mesh implants with Hanison in the hope he would secure them compensation. But they faced, in some cases, years of silence and inactivity, settlements being negotiated and accepted without their consent, costs accrued with no indication of how - and learning they had gone into litigation with no after-the-event insurance.
One former client, who did not wish to be named, said Hanison had initially advised that her case was valued at £325,000, but then said the claim had settled out of court for £35,000.
‘I was told to take it or leave it, but to this day I have never seen any paperwork from the court or any bill of costs,’ she said. ‘He knew everything I had gone through but he would not return my calls or emails. Then I started getting emails from NHS solicitors asking about money they were owed. I had been so relieved to have someone who would take on my case but this has put me off ever using a lawyer. I feel like I can’t trust anyone again.’
Another former client said she was initially told by Hanison that he could run a product liability claim if she could provide £10,000 up-front. Being unable to work following her surgical procedures, she did not have the money and so he ran a clinical negligence claim on a no win, no fee basis.
‘I kept asking him what was happening and I now know he had not done anything on my case,’ she said. ‘Eventually he got a medical report but the case was out of time. He said the medical report was not positive, but when the SRA intervened and I received my file, the report was in my favour.’
The client complained to the Legal Ombudsman and was awarded £1,000 for the distress and trauma of how she was treated. Another lawyer has estimated her clinical negligence claim could be worth £900,000 but they are not willing to take the risk when it is out of time.
She added: ‘I am just exhausted and cannot do this anymore. It has been so awful for so many years. I feel like the medical profession let me down and then the legal profession did the same. I have lost count of the major surgeries I’ve had to go through. I am so angry still but at least there is justice that he can never do this to someone else.’
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found 17 allegations proved against Hanison, the owner of Sussex firm Fortitude Law. It said his conduct had been ‘deplorable’ and he had abused his position of power and authority ‘in the most egregious way’.
Kath Sansom, founder of the Sling the Mesh campaign group, said the actions of Hanison had caused huge distress and anger among the women and men already living with the physical and emotional consequences of mesh complications.
‘They placed their trust in a legal professional who was supposed to support them through complex medical negligence cases. Instead, they were deceived, manipulated, and used for his own gain,’ Sansom told the Gazette. ‘His conduct was not only unethical but a serious and deliberate abuse of power.'
