Medical Negligence Help

wildfeet

Hi I'm new here and I'm looking for the best solicitors i could use to see if we have a case? couldn't find anywhere specific on the site so thought the health section might be a start so i apologise if this is not the correct place to post this

In 2011 my husband fell in the shower and landed on the side of the bath before falling to the floor and hitting his neck and shoulder on the radiator. After an assessment by the ambulance crew it was decided it was just a sprain and all he needed to do was keep moving and it would get better eventually. After 5 days he went to A&E at Walsgrave University Hospital in Coventry and after having an x-ray it was discovered he had broken his T11 vertebrae. Initially he was told that they couldn’t see anything on his x-ray but after consulting another doctor for a second opinion before discharging him they then noticed the break. Immediately he was laid flat on his bed and told not to move as where the position of the break could have meant my husband being paralysed if the bone pressed into his spinal cord. He was then given morphine for the pain.
He stayed in the hospital for about a week and was sent home with a back brace and discharge notes stating that he would need an x-ray a week later. In the meantime, help was put in place by social services and the hospital with carers coming in to help my husband get out of bed in the morning and to have a wash. After waiting the week for a letter to come from the hospital we tried to contact the neurosciences ward my husband was discharged from to find out what was happening. We were unable to talk to anyone as no one answered or returned our calls. We tried to call the hospital main switch board and ask for advice to which we were told over the phone that there was no record of my husband being in hospital and that if he was in pain he would have to go back to A&E. We went to our doctor who at the time was at The Crossley Practice in Bell Green, Coventry who then sent my husband for an MRI scan at rugby hospital to follow up my husband’s treatment.
From this point onwards, we have been trying to get the help my husband needs to be able to mend and cope with what has happened to him. When he did eventually get an appointment many months later with the consultant he was originally with at the hospital the consultants assistant informed my husband that his spine had already healed and that it was fused together at an angle. He then told my husband there was nothing that could be done and told him to “Just had to get on with it.” They mentioned to my husband about seeing the people at the pain clinic but that all they would be able to offer my husband was an injection into his spine. As he’s already suffering high levels of pain this was not something my husband felt he could cope with so decided not to go down that route. We since have found out that that isn’t the only thing the pain clinic could have done for him but as we haven’t been given the right information were unaware as to what we could do.
For such a serious injury as breaking his spine, the after care my husband has received in the past 7 years has been few and far between. He has been left to try and come to terms with the constant pain he feels continuously every day and although he has been on strong medication such as morphine and tramadol to mention a few he can never feel comfortable or pain free again. We have had many medication reviews to no avail, only to be told that he’s on the maximum amount of medication and there’s nothing that the doctors can do to help with his pain. On top of all this he has gone from an active healthy lifestyle where he could go out regularly and socialise to being unable to leave the house on his own as he doesn’t drive and any amount of walking that he attempts to do causes his already painfull back to hurt even more.
As a result, my husband’s mental health has deteriorated over the 7 years and now he’s left feeling useless and unworthy resulting in him feeling like the only way out of his situation is to commit suicide. We spent Christmas 2017 under the care of the crisis team as things have started to get worse for my husband with his moods all over the place and unable to hold in his tears. The Crisis team then referred my husband to the IAPT counselling service which on his first appointment the counsellor he saw was rude and aggressive. This left my husband feeling like walking in front of the next bus. Again, we are back under the crisis team and are hoping that we can find a way forward as so far all we have come across is brick walls.

If anyones able to help us or point us in the right direction we would be greatfull

keithdc

wildfeet wrote: »

Hi I'm new here and I'm looking for the best solicitors i could use to see if we have a case? couldn't find anywhere specific on the site so thought the health section might be a start so i apologise if this is not the correct place to post this

In 2011 my husband fell in the shower and landed on the side of the bath before falling to the floor and hitting his neck and shoulder on the radiator. After an assessment by the ambulance crew it was decided it was just a sprain and all he needed to do was keep moving and it would get better eventually. After 5 days he went to A&E at Walsgrave University Hospital in Coventry and after having an x-ray it was discovered he had broken his T11 vertebrae. Initially he was told that they couldn’t see anything on his x-ray but after consulting another doctor for a second opinion before discharging him they then noticed the break. Immediately he was laid flat on his bed and told not to move as where the position of the break could have meant my husband being paralysed if the bone pressed into his spinal cord. He was then given morphine for the pain.
He stayed in the hospital for about a week and was sent home with a back brace and discharge notes stating that he would need an x-ray a week later. In the meantime, help was put in place by social services and the hospital with carers coming in to help my husband get out of bed in the morning and to have a wash. After waiting the week for a letter to come from the hospital we tried to contact the neurosciences ward my husband was discharged from to find out what was happening. We were unable to talk to anyone as no one answered or returned our calls. We tried to call the hospital main switch board and ask for advice to which we were told over the phone that there was no record of my husband being in hospital and that if he was in pain he would have to go back to A&E. We went to our doctor who at the time was at The Crossley Practice in Bell Green, Coventry who then sent my husband for an MRI scan at rugby hospital to follow up my husband’s treatment.
From this point onwards, we have been trying to get the help my husband needs to be able to mend and cope with what has happened to him. When he did eventually get an appointment many months later with the consultant he was originally with at the hospital the consultants assistant informed my husband that his spine had already healed and that it was fused together at an angle. He then told my husband there was nothing that could be done and told him to “Just had to get on with it.” They mentioned to my husband about seeing the people at the pain clinic but that all they would be able to offer my husband was an injection into his spine. As he’s already suffering high levels of pain this was not something my husband felt he could cope with so decided not to go down that route. We since have found out that that isn’t the only thing the pain clinic could have done for him but as we haven’t been given the right information were unaware as to what we could do.
For such a serious injury as breaking his spine, the after care my husband has received in the past 7 years has been few and far between. He has been left to try and come to terms with the constant pain he feels continuously every day and although he has been on strong medication such as morphine and tramadol to mention a few he can never feel comfortable or pain free again. We have had many medication reviews to no avail, only to be told that he’s on the maximum amount of medication and there’s nothing that the doctors can do to help with his pain. On top of all this he has gone from an active healthy lifestyle where he could go out regularly and socialise to being unable to leave the house on his own as he doesn’t drive and any amount of walking that he attempts to do causes his already painfull back to hurt even more.
As a result, my husband’s mental health has deteriorated over the 7 years and now he’s left feeling useless and unworthy resulting in him feeling like the only way out of his situation is to commit suicide. We spent Christmas 2017 under the care of the crisis team as things have started to get worse for my husband with his moods all over the place and unable to hold in his tears. The Crisis team then referred my husband to the IAPT counselling service which on his first appointment the counsellor he saw was rude and aggressive. This left my husband feeling like walking in front of the next bus. Again, we are back under the crisis team and are hoping that we can find a way forward as so far all we have come across is brick walls.

If anyones able to help us or point us in the right direction we would be greatfull

Whilst his aftercare may have not been perfect, I am struggling to see any evidence of negligence.

Also, the event happened in 2011 which is likely to be too long ago to make any claim.

pmduk

OP, where do you yourselves consider the negligence occurred?

Toothsmith

Sounds to me that the last thing he needs is a long drawn out legal battle.

Sometimes stuff just happens. Sometimes that stuff can't be fixed properly, and there are effects that you have to live with afterwards.

By 'going legal' you will only be increasing your own stress levels, increasing the stress levels of any of the staff that have been trying to help you over the years, diverting money from NHS patient care, and making several lawyers lots of money.

If you feel any of that will ultimately help your husband - then go for it.

rach_k

Did he ever go to the pain clinic? If not, why not ask for a referral now?

TensandUnits

I believe there are lots of no win no fee lawyers advertising on tv, but I can't recommend one in particular. It might be worth asking yourselves what it is you want to gain out of a potential lawsuit. I presume it would be financial compensation for your husband's suffering and also the ability to pay for counselling and treatment privately if you did get awarded damages.

I am not an expert, of course, and cannot say whether you would have a case or not.

GlasweJen

Who would you be suing for negligence?
The paramedic? They'd argue that you should have went to hospital sooner than 5 days if pain persisted and probably documented notes to that effect at the time.

The doctor who failed to see the break on the x-ray? X-rays are not an exact science.

The doctor who found the break? Well he got to it a week after the break happened, you should have presented sooner...
You get the picture.


For negligence you need to blame someone or some team for a specific action or non action. You can't claim negligence for a general situation with a generally poor outcome. I was paralysed during a heart transplant op gone wrong, to sue for negligence I'd need to pinpoint a doctor and sue that doctor not the heart transplant team in general.

JEN22

Don't see any negligence in what you have said. Make sure you have a case before proceeding

TensandUnits

GlasweJen wrote: »

For negligence you need to blame someone or some team for a specific action or non action. You can't claim negligence for a general situation with a generally poor outcome. I was paralysed during a heart transplant op gone wrong, to sue for negligence I'd need to pinpoint a doctor and sue that doctor not the heart transplant team in general.

I'm not suggesting for a minute that you do sue, but that doesn't sound right, or people and organisations would just be able to buck-pass.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Thank goodness in 2012 I only had a heart attack and an ICD fitted against my will. My Buck of Face account keeps reminding me that I can be switched off and should sue as I am being kept artificially alive.


Then I spit out my dunked digestive biscuit and get on with life!

GlasweJen

TensandUnits wrote: »

I'm not suggesting for a minute that you do sue, but that doesn't sound right, or people and organisations would just be able to buck-pass.

I'm related to a medical negligence solicitor and there is no case to answer, the procedure is highly technical and not just a case of opening someone up and replumbing the heart itself. Paralysis, although rare, is a possible complication of a heart transplant. So rare that I went through 18 months of physio assuming that I'd had a nerve bruised.

You do need to point out who you're suing and why, you can't just run to a solicitor screaming "medical negligence" and hoping they'd do the work and find the negligence for you. Well you can but you'll end up poor and not much further forward. Some lawyers without scruples will take your money and let you think you're going to win millions but that's not how it works.

OP have you lodged an official complaint or asked to see the records of what happened to see where things went wrong?