Our medical negligence solicitors successfully settled a medical negligence claim for five figures. This came after a delayed diagnosis of a hip fracture resulted in a full hip replacement, which could have been avoided.
What happened?
Our client Kathleen* made an appointment to see her GP after experiencing pain in her right upper leg. She had a history of rheumatoid arthritis and was taking prescribed steroids to ease symptoms.
Her GP diagnosed a muscle strain and referred her to community physiotherapy. They advised Kathleen to return if her condition didn’t improve or got worse.
A week later, Kathleen went to the emergency department, where she was triaged and it was documented she had: “Injury to hip, groin pain.” Her symptoms had worsened, and she couldn’t bear any weight. The clinician ruled out a pathological fracture due to her history of arthritis and steroid use.
Kathleen was sent for an x-ray, which reported as showing no bone injury. Further examinations also found no symptoms of bone injury and Kathleen was sent home and, told to come back if there was no improvement.
Two days later, Kathleen attended a rheumatology appointment with a specialist nurse. She explained her severe pain, and the nurse told her that this wasn’t due to a flare up of her arthritis. The nurse told her to make another appointment with her GP.
The same day, Kathleen made an appointment to see her doctor. Her steroid dose was increased and her doctor contacted social services to get Kathleen help with caring for her children as her physical symptoms were impacting on her ability to look after the infants.
Kathleen made an appointment to see a private osteopath, who agreed to write to her GP to recommend an MRI scan. After seeing her doctor, they failed to carry out a proper examination or make the correct referral once again.
Over three months later, Kathleen finally had her MRI scan, along with further x-rays. This confirmed a chronic fracture on the right neck of her right femur. She was diagnosed with a pathological stress fracture and told that, due to the progression, she now needed a total right hip replacement.
How did Irwin Mitchell’s medical negligence solicitors help?
Kathleen contacted our team seeking compensation for the delayed diagnosis of her hip fracture.
We began by obtaining a complete set of Kathleen’s medical records. These highlighted various examples of medical negligence and breaches of duty in failing to refer her for the right tests sooner.
Our solicitors also gathered independent expert evidence from a GP, an A&E clinician, and orthopaedic surgeon. Their expert opinions helped to prove that Kathleen had been treated negligently and, had she been diagnosed sooner, could have avoided a full hip replacement.
How did the case proceed?
A claim of medical negligence was brought against two GPs and a Hospital. All the defendants denied breach of duty and causation. As a result, we were left with no option but to begin court proceedings.
Once court proceedings were initiated, we were able to settle the claim against the main defendant, resulting in a five-figure sum in compensation. This money will help Kathleen to access the therapies she’ll need to make a long-term recovery and significantly increase her quality of life.
Expert comment
Kathleen’s claim was handled by Toni Maini, a solicitor in our medical negligence team. Speaking of this case, Toni commented: “It was a privilege to obtain a five-figure settlement for my client. This compensation will enable her to access much-needed therapies to support her recovery and rehabilitation from the negligent injuries.”
*Client’s name has been changed
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