September 15th, 2009
A man who may have gone on to play rugby for his country has been awarded compensation of £80,000 after an injury and a subsequent misdiagnosis cut his career short.
The unnamed man, now 23, suffered a scaphoid fracture to his wrist during a game when he was 16. Although he was taken to hospital in North Devon, medics failed to spot the injury and told him to simply rest.
By the time the fracture was spotted by a GP five months later, further damage had been done and the victim needed a bone graft and three operations.
He lost his chance to play rugby professionally and still suffers from pain in his wrist.
The man decided to pursue a compensation claim because the hospital should have offered an X-ray a week after the accident in order to make sure there was no scaphoid fracture present.
In a new development, the hospital has agreed that it was negligent in not calling him back for further treatment and agreed to a payout of £80,000.
According to Arthroscopy.com, scaphoid fractures must be treated relatively quickly because pieces of broken bone, which are loose inside the wrist joint, will eventually cause a deterioration of the wrist joint called traumatic arthritis if the injury is left.
Tags: Arthritis, Bone Graft, Broken Bone, Career, Compensation Claim, Deterioration, Five Months, Fractures, Game, Gp, Medics, North Devon, Rugby Player, Scaphoid Fracture, Traumatic Arthritis, Unnamed Man, X Ray
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September 2nd, 2009
A man from Bristol is taking legal action against a Somerset hospital after claiming that a botched knee operation left him in pain and unable to work.
Terry Heath, 65, needed a knee replacement and was told in 2004 that it would be performed by a Swedish surgeon at Weston-Super-Mare General Hospital. The foreign medics had been flown over to alleviate the shortage of doctors in Britain.
However, Mr Heath – who has a condition which means he has shorter than average limbs – claims the operation went so badly that he needed another a year later and is now barely able to walk.
He alleges that the surgeons were not suitably qualified and that he should have seen a specialist because of his condition.
"I would not have had it done if I had known about this. This has changed our lives completely. I can’t even get into the bath," the victim remarked.
He is now taking legal action against the hospital, which declined to comment.
Last month, it was revealed that clinical negligence payouts reached £807 million last year, up by 22 per cent on the figure from 2007-08.
Tags: Bristol, Clinical Negligence, General Hospital, Knee Operation, Knee Replacement, Medics, Mr Heath, Shortage Of Doctors, Somerset Hospital, Weston Super Mare
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July 16th, 2009
A couple are seeking legal action against an NHS trust after their baby was delivered so forcefully that part of his scalp detached.
Charlene Steel and Robin Heslop – the baby’s parents – claim they had pleaded with staff at Cumberland Infirmary to perform a Caesarean section following two hours of difficult labour, the News and Star reports.
However, medics continued to try to use a ventouse cap to pull the baby out.
When baby Bobbie was born, his head was bleeding and his parents fear he may have brain damage.
"The midwife was pulling so hard the veins on her arms stuck out," commented Mr Heslop.
Ms Steel believes that doctors should have recognised the traumatic labour and should have given her a Caesarean section. They have now taken legal action against North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust for negligence.
The trust declined to comment while the case goes through the appropriate legal channels.
According to BabyCentre.co.uk, rates of Caesarean delivery in the UK vary from place to place; in some locations it is as low as 13 to 15 per cent, while in others it may be 25 to 30 per cent.
Tags: Baby Bobbie, Babycentre, Brain Damage, Caesarean Delivery, Caesarean Section, Charlene, Cumberland, Cumberland Infirmary, Heslop, Hospitals Nhs Trust, Labour, Legal Channels, Medics, Midwife, Ms Steel, Negligence, North Cumbria, Star Reports, University Hospitals Nhs Trust, Veins
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June 19th, 2009
A woman has pledged to seek compensation from two NHS trusts after her daughter died in hospital from meningitis.
Shazia Ahmed, a 25-year-old mother of one, had already called out-of-hours GP services twice in February when she began to feel unwell with a rash and terrible sickness.
However, the medics refused a home visit and when Ms Ahmed’s symptoms began to worsen, her mother Lorraine Lewis took her to A&E at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.
Despite this, her meningitis was not diagnosed for a further 15 hours, by which time it was too late to treat her.
The victim died five days later and Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust have since apologised for the failings in her care.
The trusts admitted that had Ms Ahmed been diagnosed earlier, a "different outcome" might have been reached.
Ms Lewis said: "What we got was a shoddy service which probably killed my daughter." In an interview with the Oxford Mail, she added: "I’m going to sue. I’ve been to see my solicitor."
Tags: Amp, Apologised, Gp Services, John Radcliffe Hospital, Lorraine Lewis, Medics, Meningitis, Nhs Trusts, Old Mother, Oxford Mail, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, Oxfordshire, Primary Care Trust, Quot, Rash, Shazia, Shoddy Service, Solicitor, Woman
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