Our client suffered a fall, which caused an open wound and dislocation injury to his left thumb. He attended A&E at hospital where the dislocation was treated by reducing the joint back into place but the treating clinicians failed to irrigate the wound to clean the area and reduce the risk of infection. Later that day he was admitted from the A&E Department to Orthopaedics where antibiotics were started, 11 hours after our client arrived at the hospital.

Unfortunately, our client developed an infection in the thumb whilst in hospital, but was still discharged without review by a senior doctor. The infection got worse, and our client needed to be hospitalised for several weeks. Whilst he was in hospital our client underwent a number of medical procedures, including a fusion of the thumb joint which was needed to repair the damage that the untreated infection had done to the bone. Our client was left with ongoing pain in his thumb and was unable to return to work.

Lester Aldridge was instructed to pursue a claim for clinical negligence. We put together a strong team of legal and medical experts to prepare evidence to support the claim.

The claim was presented to the Defendant NHS Trust who denied liability but made a low five figure settlement offer. By this stage, we had obtained robust medical evidence in support of his claim on behalf of our client and were able to confidently advise our client not to accept the offer and to continue the claim. The Defendant continued to defend the claim but with strong evidence, which had been properly tested with the clients’ legal team, we were able to continue to apply pressure on the Defendant until the claim was successfully concluded, without the need for litigation, and with the client receiving a much fairer six figure sum.

This case was conducted by Karen Watts, Senior Associate, with assistance from the team. Karen says:

“I am delighted to have achieved this settlement for my client who has been left with ongoing pain and unable to return to the job he enjoyed. Working closely with the right experts and barrister has been key to reaching this outcome. It is important to treat open wounds promptly to avoid the serious damage that can be caused by severe infections.“

If you or a loved one has experienced similar issues and requires legal advice, please email us at online.enquiries@la-law.com or call 01202 786260 to speak to our Medical Negligence team.