Hospital Patient Awarded £400,000.00 For Undiagnosed Life Changing Shoulder Injury

Medical Negligence Solicitor, Chloe Sullivan, successfully secured £400,000.00 in damages for a Client who is now suffering from life-changing consequences after hospital staff failed to act upon Client’s continuing complaints of shoulder pain, causing him to require further extensive surgery to correct his injuries.

What Happened

Our Client was admitted into the care of a local hospital with a shoulder injury which was the result of a fall which occurred during a seizure. He was sent for a single view x-ray and the results lead to a diagnosis of a minimally displaced fracture to the left shoulder. Our Client was advised that his injury was to be treated conservatively with simple home exercises and by wearing a collar and cuff sling for four weeks.

Concerned with the level of pain and discomfort he was experiencing from his shoulder, our Client continuously returned back to hospital to express his worries. After 9 months of receiving very little treatment, our Client was finally sent for an MRI scan which revealed that he was suffering from a complicated fracture which had in fact healed incorrectly and required urgent treatment.

Our Client was therefore required to undergo extensive corrective surgery by way of a half shoulder replacement and bone block stabilization. Had the extent of our Client’s shoulder injury been diagnosed at the outset, the type of surgery required would have been far less complex. The consequences of this delayed diagnosis will now be life changing for our Client as he can expect to suffer a permanent loss of use of the left shoulder which will require life-long surgical repairs.

How Chloe Helped

Chloe was able to successfully argue the Consultant’s failure to sufficiently investigate our Client’s injury at the outset. These actions caused our Client’s injury to go undiagnosed and adequately treated for many months. In addition, the Consultant also failed to act upon our Client’s continuous concerns of shoulder pain, stiffness and limited movement. Had a sufficient investigation into the injury been carried out initially, the extent of his injury would have been identified, preventing the same from healing in an incorrect manner. Unfortunately, this was not the case and as a result of a failure to diagnose and treat, it permitted our Client’s condition to remain undiagnosed and inadequately treated and thereby deteriorate to the point that he required complex corrective surgery which resulted in permanent damage to the left shoulder.

The Result

Chloe successfully argued that our Client was owed a duty of care by the Defendant Trust which was admitted in full. As a result of this breach of duty, causation was also admitted in that the Client suffered a loss and injury which contributed to his shoulder healing in an incorrect position. It was also admitted by the Defendant Trust that there were failings in relation to the investigations undertaken upon our Client’s initial visit to the Hospital, failings to reconsider the initial diagnosis and failings to undertake further investigative imaging. The parties entered into Mediation and Chloe was able to secure an award of £400,000.00 for the pain, suffering, financial losses and future implications endured by our Client.