Boyes Turner’s expert medical negligence claim solicitors settled a medical negligence claim on behalf of an NHS patient who suffered permanent debilitating symptoms in her wrist after a surgeon performed the wrong procedure.
Client background
Our client noticed a small lump growing on the inside of her wrist and decided to seek medical advice. Initially she was sent away having been told that there was nothing to worry about and that the lump was benign, however, she became more and more concerned as the lump grew larger and started to become painful. Our client returned for further investigations but again she was told that the lump was benign, however, because of the pain it was causing, the decision was made that the best course of action would be to remove the lump via day surgery.
Initially our client believed that the surgery went well but in the days that followed she noticed that her hand became stiff, cold and inflamed and that the skin had started to peel.
A nerve conduction study was performed which concluded that the main nerve that connected to the hand had been seriously damaged during the operation. It was later discovered that the surgeon had confused the nerve with a tendon during what should have been a routine procedure.
Medical negligence claim settlement
Our client was left with a significant reduction of the function of her right hand and arm. This meant that she had trouble carrying out her duties as a secretary which eventually resulted in her having to take early retirement.
When calculating the settlement we took into account the future loss of earnings that our client sustained as a result of the enforced early retirement. This sum was added to the compensation for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity that our client had experienced.
The defendant hospital trust had attempted to settle the claim by making an offer of around £30,000. We advised our client to reject this offer as we believed the settlement should have been significantly higher.
A short while later, the defendants agreed to settle the medical claim for £67,500.
