Surgical Compensation Claim - Case Studies

• Our client brought a clinical negligence claim against a hospital regarding the standard of care they received from an orthopaedic surgeon.

Our client suffered from arthritis and underwent a left shoulder hemiarthroplasty (shoulder replacement operation). The operation was abandoned midway, after our client had been anaesthesised and the shoulder joint had been opened, because not all the equipment required to perform the procedure was present.

Our client underwent the second stage of the surgery under general anaesthetic a few days later and sustained a fracture to her arm which was fixed with K-wires.

The fracture was not adequately stabilised and so our client had to undergo a third operation under general anaesthetic to stabilise the fracture. During this operation, our client suffered nerve damage.

As a result of undergoing so many operations, our client suffered from recurrent infections in her upper left arm and needed to undergo 4 operations under general anaesthetic to treat these infections.

The main allegations were as follows:

1. It was a breach of duty of care to abandon the left hemiarthroplasty owing to a lack of equipment. This caused the need for another operation to complete the procedure and a greater risk of future infection and further bone weakness.

2. It was a breach of duty of care to cause a fracture during the second stage hemiarthroplasty and to enact an inadequate repair of this. This caused the need for the fracture to be repaired and this failed which caused the need for further surgery.

3. It was a breach of duty of care to cause nerve damage during the third operation. This caused permanent loss of function, infection and 4 abscesses requiring 4 operations under general anaesthetic.

Our client was successful in their surgical error compensation claim and recovered the sum of £50,000 by way of compensation.

• Our client underwent an operation to remove varicose veins from her left leg. During this operation, the surgeon injured the common femoral vein. This injury was repaired but took considerable time and so our client was not able to have the varicose veins removed, owing to the amount of time that she was under general anesthetic.

After the operation, our client was admitted to the high dependency unit for 3 days and had to stay in hospital longer than she had anticipated. Our client also had to receive daily injections of anti-coagulation to reduce the risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis. The injections were painful and the areas injected became very bruised and sore.

Our client was disappointed with the scar after the operation as this was twice as long as she expected it to be. She also needs to undergo further surgery to treat the varicose veins which cause her daily discomfort.

Our client was successful in her surgery compensation claim and recovered the sum of £9,000 by way of compensation.

• Our client underwent a total right knee replacement and during this operation, the surgical cutting block was placed the wrong way round and so a cut was made in the wrong place causing a fracture of the femur.

Our client therefore had to undergo further surgery under general anesthetic to stabilise the knee.

Our client later suffered from Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and a stroke. She has had a poor outcome for her right leg which is very painful.

The main allegations were that; the defendant incorrectly placed the cutting block during right knee replacement surgery, failed to adequately stabilise the incorrect cut made and to failed to manage our client appropriately post-operatively in that she was advised to mobilise in a standard fashion.

Had the cutting block been placed correctly, our client would have successfully undergone right knee replacement without any damage to her femur and would have made a good recovery with minimal, if any, ongoing right knee pain and no complications.

As a result of the breaches of duty of care identified above, our client suffered significant damage to her femur and experienced the avoidable pain and suffering of this injury. Furthermore, our client suffered an avoidable fracture, the need for corrective surgery under general anaesthetic, deep vein thrombosis, a stroke, ongoing right knee pain and psychiatric injury.

Our client was successful in her surgeon claim for negligence and recovered the sum of £50,000 by way of compensation.

• Our client suffered with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (compression on the nerve) in her left hand, which caused her to experience constant pins and needles, numbness and pain in her fingers. She is also suffered with a constant aching in his wrist.
  
  Our client underwent a carpal tunnel release operation but immediately felt considerable pain after the operation and continued to suffer with the same symptoms. This meant that she was unable to grip anything and required assistance with daily tasks.
  
  Our client attended three different orthopaedic doctors and a neurophysiologist over the period of 8 months before revision surgery was planned. The operation was to release the carpal tunnel a second time, which was successful.
  
  It was alleged that the defendant breached their duty of care to our client in that they failed to release part of the carpal tunnel ligament. Our client therefore suffered 8 months of unnecessary pain and suffering. Our client received £3,000 compensation for her surgical error.

Do you have a potential medical negligence claim?

Please contact us for advice if you feel you have suffered any form of negligent medical/dental treatment. We have a specialist team of solicitors who are always happy to help. At Quality Solicitors Oliver & Co, we are unique in that the head of our Clinical Negligence department, Linda Schermer, is a qualified doctor as well as a qualified solicitor. We therefore benefit from in-house medical knowledge and are able to get to grips with your claim and locate any areas of negligent care quickly.

Our solicitors deal with a wide variety of medical claims including missed/delayed diagnosis claims, orthopaedic injuries, drug dispensing errors and claims against GPs. Our Liz Fry also has extensive experience with claims against dentists and our Kerry Bateman has had great success in pursuing claims involving poor nursing care.

With the assistance of our paralegal Lisa Thomas and our team secretary Corinna Phillips, we tend to work on a team basis and pool our legal and medical knowledge to offer the best service to our clients.

If you would like advice on whether you have a potential clinical negligence claim or assistance with drafting a letter of complaint, please contact us on the number below. Please note that there are legal time limits in place for starting a claim for compensation, and our specialist clinical negligence solicitors will be able to advise you specifically on the facts of your own case.