Occasionally medical professionals get it wrong and this can sometimes cause avoidable physical and psychological injuries
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A missed bone fracture is a break to a bone which may have been difficult to diagnose or missed at the first instance, and as a result, goes undiagnosed. This may lead to a delay in you receiving the necessary treatment for the fracture, causing unnecessary prolonged pain and could cause further complications; you may require additional treatment including surgery which may not have otherwise been required or left with permanent damage. All of this may have been avoided had the fracture been diagnosed and treated correctly from the outset.
If you have suffered any fractures which were not diagnosed correctly from the outset, then you may have a claim for clinical negligence and our specialist team of solicitors may be able to assist you with your claim.
One example is a fracture of your scaphoid, which is a small bone in your wrist. Due to the bone being small, a fracture can often be missed by doctors if they do not check this bone very carefully. The scaphoid is commonly broken as a sports injury, for example when playing football or boxing, or landing on your wrist or hand when falling.
We have helped many clients with claims for missed or delayed diagnoses of fractures. We helped a client claim £35,000 in compensation after a misdiagnosis of a scaphoid fracture. Upon his initial visit to A&E, our client was x-rayed and told that he had only suffered a sprained wrist. Two weeks later, he was informed that the original x-ray had been reviewed and it showed that he had broken his wrist. At a follow up appointment at a later date, our client was then informed that not only had he broken the scaphoid bone in his wrist, but the ligaments had also been damaged and this had caused the bones to become displaced. Unfortunately, surgery and treatment was unsuccessful and our client underwent a wrist fusion operation the following year.
Testicular torsion occurs when the testicle twists on the spermatic cord, which suddenly cuts off the blood supply to the testicle. If testicular torsion is identified appropriately and surgery is undertaken quickly enough, it is possible to save the affected testicle. However, if there is a delay in diagnosis or treatment, the testicle can die and the patient will require surgery to remove the testicle. This can result in loss of the testicle unnecessarily and can potentially affect fertility. Testicular torsion is an emergency situation and a matter of minutes and hours can make all the difference to the likelihood of being able to save the testicle.
If you have suffered a delay in diagnosing and treating testicular torsion, then you may have a claim for clinical negligence and our specialist team of solicitors may be able to assist you with a claim.
We have helped many clients with claims for testicular torsion. We helped a client claim £20,000 in compensation after the hospital failed to diagnose and treat testicular torsion. Our client suffered with intermittent testicular pain. He was diagnosed with a varicocele and underwent surgery as a day case procedure to remove this. Later that evening, our client began to suffer severe pain in his left testicle, which was becoming very swollen. The hospital advised him that his pain was normal. The pain continued to increase and became so excruciating that our client returned to the hospital. He was examined, diagnosed with an infection and discharged with antibiotics.
A few days later, an ultrasound scan showed that there was no blood supply to the testicle and it could not be saved. The testicle was removed during surgery later that day.
Hospital and nursing home staff have a duty of care to protect their patients from harm. If you were a patient in hospital or a resident of a nursing home and there were times were the care provided fell below the standard expected, you may have a clinical negligence claim.
One or more of the following may have occurred:
This can lead to the patient sustaining injuries and suffering prolonged pain. It is even possible that the injury you sustained whilst in the hospital is more serious than the illness you were originally admitted with. Our specialist team of Solicitors may be able to assist you with a claim.
We have helped many clients who have suffered injuries due to receiving poor nursing care. We helped a client claim over £17,500 in compensation on behalf of the estate of her grandmother. Her grandmother was admitted to the Assessment Unit to decide whether she was suffering from dementia, as she was confused and had a tendency to wander. She was left unattended for over 3 hours and wandered outside, subsequently falling down stairs and fracturing her right ankle and left knee. She sadly passed away just two months later.
A tendon is a tissue in the body which connects the muscle to the bone, allowing movement to the joint, for example knees and Achilles. Medical professionals should obtain a full history including how the injury happened, a description of the symptoms, any relevant past medical history, and should perform a detailed examination of the area. The earlier the diagnosis of a tendon injury is made, the better the outcome for the patient. A delay in diagnosis and treatment can lead to prolonged recovery and greater pain for a patient. It is also likely to result in greater and longer lasting damage, such as a rupture of the tendon, which can lead to more extensive surgery being required. This can cause loss of function and ongoing disability, having a huge impact on the patient’s daily life.
If you have suffered a tendon injury which was misdiagnosed or negligently treated, then you may have a claim for clinical negligence and our specialist team of solicitors may be able to assist you with a claim.
We have helped many clients with claims for missed or delayed diagnoses of tendon injuries. We helped a client claim £20,000 in compensation after misdiagnosis of a tendon injury, which caused our client to suffer additional pain and require surgery which would have been avoided had the injury been diagnosed correctly. Our client sustained a cut to the ring and little fingers of his dominant right hand whilst washing up, which bled heavily. He was examined at A&E and told the cut was superficial and the wound was glued together. Our client continued to suffer reduced movement of his fingers. He saw his GP just over a month later and was diagnosed with tendon damage. He underwent surgery for two severed tendons but unfortunately due to the passage of time, one tendon could not be repaired. Our client had to undergo further surgery to have a tendon graft from his arm. He was left with permanent reduced mobility in his fingers and scarring to his arm and hand from the surgeries.
During birth, the whole of the placenta and the associated membranes that surround the baby are normally delivered straight after the baby. A retained placenta can be a serious condition, due to associated bleeding and infection complications. If the baby has been born via a vaginal delivery, unfortunately it is not always easy to detect that a small part of the placenta has been retained. However, if a baby is born via an elective Caesarean Section, doctors should inspect and remove any retained placenta.
Birth-related injuries involve complex legal and medical issues. Therefore, it is important to consult with a specialist clinical negligence Solicitor. We can give you the best advice and guidance from the outset and may be able to assist you with a claim.
We have helped many clients with claims for retained placentas. We helped a client claim £5,000 in compensation after she sustained retained placenta. Our client delivered her baby by way of Caesarean section and subsequently suffered from persistent bleeding and developed a womb infection. This was due to retained products of conception.
She took three courses of antibiotics for this and was, therefore, unable to breast feed her child, and she had to undergo a further operation to remove the retained products.
A diagnosis may be delayed for a number of reasons, including interpreting test results incorrectly or not accurately enough, or failing to refer a patient to a specialist. If you are not correctly diagnosed from the outset, it can mean that your medical condition was not treated urgently or effectively enough, and may even get worse. Mistakes of this type can potentially result in the following:
If the diagnosis of your illness by a medical professional is delayed or incorrect you may be able to make a claim for compensation. Our specialist team of Solicitors may be able to assist you with a claim.
We have helped many clients who have suffered delayed diagnoses to obtain compensation.
We helped a client claim over £100,000 in compensation on behalf of the estate of his wife who sadly passed away after her cancer was not diagnosed for nearly two years. Our client’s wife attended her GP with a patch of skin on her back that was a distinctly different colour to the rest of her skin. She was told that this was simply a mole and nothing to worry about. The patch began to grow in size, yet the GP insisted it was just a mole. It became raised above the skin and eventually became irritated and began to bleed. Only at this point, almost 20 months after our client’s wife first attended her GP, did she get referred to a hospital doctor. Unfortunately, she was immediately diagnosed with skin cancer and passed away less than a year after her treatment started.
Do not hesitate to contact us at What’s My Claim Worth. Try our Claim Calculator below to see how much your injury may be worth. We understand the injuries you have suffered can have severe consequences on your day to day life, which is why we are here to help secure the compensation you deserve.
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