Compensation recovered for delayed diagnosis and treatment of infected wound

Jonathan Herbert, specialist clinical negligence lawyer, acting for the claimant recovered damages of £40,000 to compensate him for extensive avoidable treatment being required after Medway Maritime Hospital, one of his GPs and his local wound clinic failed to manage a wound over an internal plate properly.

The claimant suffered a fractured tibia requiring internal fixation in 1995.  For 25 years, he had no problems with this but then sustained a small cut over the metalwork which did not heal.  He was assessed by a nurse practitioner at Medway Marime Hospital and discharged on a 7 day course of antibiotics with a referral to his local wound clinic.  Thereafter, he had a series of appointments at the wound clinic, a further attendance at A&E and saw doctors at his surgery where a variety of treatments were attempted but the wound deteriorated.  Eventually, the metalwork was removed following a washout.  He then underwent a skin graft resulting in scarring.  This all impacted upon his mental health and ability to return to work.

We were instructed to bring a claim for compensation and did so on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis.

Advice was taken initially from an orthopaedic surgeon.  He reported that early orthopaedic advice should have been sought due to high risk of infection.  Ultimately, the metalwork would have been removed anyway, but he would have not required skin grafting.  A letter of claim was sent to Medway Maritime Hospital.  They denied any wrongdoing.  Court proceedings were commenced and some concessions regarding treatment were made but it was denied that any of those had an adverse outcome to the claimant’s condition.  Directions to trial were ordered with the parties each having permission to rely on 4 experts in the fields of nursing, general practice, orthopaedic surgery and psychiatry.  The defendants then made an offer to settle that the claimant accepted.

This case study therefore demonstrates the expertise of our Clinical Negligence team to handle cases involving treatment provided by numerous healthcare professionals when a patient considers that they suffered personal injury as a consequence.

Jonathan Herbert is a specialist medical negligence lawyer.  If you would like to ask him a question about a potential case, or if you have a general query about any personal injury, contact him at Thomson Snell & Passmore solicitors on 01892 701226 in confidence.

Thomson Snell & Passmore has one of the largest and most experienced specialist medical negligence teams in Southern England including London.  Our team of experienced lawyers has expertise essential in this sensitive and often complex area of law.  Our clinical negligence team is ranked Number 1 in both the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners UK and we offer no win no fee agreements on the vast majority of our clinical negligence and personal injury cases.