A man who has lived with a broken wrist for more than a year-and-a-half has been awarded a five-figure damages settlement after an accident and emergency centre twice wrongly diagnosed him without taking x-rays.
The 23-year-old, who doesn’t wish to be named, injured his right hand when playing football and went to Bransholme Minor Injuries Unit in Hull to have his injury assessed.
He immediately feared his wrist was broken but was told by a nurse, having assessed the range of movement in his wrist and thumb, that it was likely he had only suffered a sprain. He was sent home without being x-rayed.
Over the coming weeks, he continued to be in pain when trying to lift the lightest of objects and carry out day-to-day activities.
He returned to the Minor Injuries Unit – more than two months after suffering the injury – and was seen by a physiotherapist who noted soft tissue tenderness but again, due to the amount of movement he had in his wrist, concluded it was only a sprain.
No x-ray was taken again and the man was advised to have physiotherapy to help the injury recover. It was only as a result of seeing a physiotherapist that an x-ray was finally arranged, with results sent to his GP showing a scaphoid fracture.
This was five months after he first attended at the Minor Injuries Unit. He continues to await surgery today and now requires a bone graft to be taken from his hip in order to try and fix his wrist. He has been warned however that the operation may not be able to return his wrist to normal function.
Arrange a call back
Health provider lowers threshold for conducting x-rays
Now, following a legal case led by Hudgell Solicitors, the patient has accepted a five-figure compensation settlement out of court.
The City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP CIC), which runs Bransholme Minor Injuries Unit and a number of others across Hull and the East Riding, has also confirmed it has changed its procedures when assessing such cases.
In a letter to the man’s legal representative, Rachel O’Connor, the CHCP CIC admitted breaching its duty of care in wrongly diagnosing the injury as a sprain and in failing to take an x-ray. It also admitted that the fracture was likely to have been diagnosed in August or October 2020 with an x-ray, and would have healed after several weeks had it been put into a plaster cast immediately.
He received an apology for the ‘substandard care’ and an ‘unreserved apology’, and the letter confirmed changes to procedures. It said:
Lessons have been learnt from this incident and improvements have been made. A scaphoid injury update has been circulated and the threshold for x-ray has been reduced.
It is recognised that a high threshold for x-ray demands a high level of experience and expertise in trauma and orthopaedics. Any uncertainty regarding bony injury should trigger x-ray investigation.
‘Happy changes have been made’
The patient agreed to settle his case prior to having surgery, and with the long-term impact of his injury yet to be resolved, he said he was happy it had led to a change in approach. He said:
This shouldn’t happen as all it needed was an x-ray, so I am glad that my case has led to changes happening in how these injuries are assessed and treated. That is why I accepted the first offer they made to me, even though perhaps I could have sought more financially.
It has been frustrating more than anything because the fracture could have been found and treated properly by simply taking an x-ray on the day I first went into the minor injuries unit.
I’d say the pain level was a seven out of 10 on the day it happened, so I thought it was broken. I went to that minor injuries unit as I knew it was a place where you could have an x-ray taken, and I was surprised when they said it was a sprain and that an x-ray wasn’t needed.
Obviously you trust the medical professionals so I went home, but over the coming weeks it remained just as painful and I couldn’t even lift the lightest of objects without being in pain. I thought it would just be a case of it gradually healing and getting stronger, so I just endured the pain and tried to live with it.
When it was finally confirmed that it was broken I was quite annoyed as by that time I was told the injury had effectively worsened and that more extensive surgery would be required to fix it.
Bone graft surgery now required
The man is now awaiting open surgery in which a bone graft will need to be taken from his hip in order to be able to pin the wrist back in place. He has been warned however that the operation may not be able to return his wrist to normal. He said:
It’s had a big impact on my life as I am right-handed and it is just too weak to do anything without pain. I obviously haven’t been able to play football since, nor other sports.
I also used to do a lot of DIY and jobs around the house for my dad as he is disabled, but obviously he has now had to use workmen instead. Thankfully I don’t have a job which involves lifting and it hasn’t stopped me from doing my work, but I have had to type one-handed, and I have also had to have a lot of time off for physio and other appointments.
It is crazy that it has gone on so long and that I have been left in this situation now, and that’s why I felt it important to seek legal advice.
Rachel O’Connor, a specialist in handling medical negligence compensation claims at Hudgell Solicitors, said:
This was an injury which should have been correctly identified immediately, and which with appropriate treatment, would have healed in a matter of weeks. Here we are now more than a year-and-a-half later with him still in pain and difficulty, and facing more extensive surgery.
He was adamant that for him this was about ensuring procedures were investigated and reviewed, and was genuinely delighted to learn changes had been made as a result which will benefit future patients. He settled his case at the first opportunity, which was another example of his motivation being to ensure lessons were learned.
It has been a good result. We wish him well for his upcoming surgery and hope it goes well for him.
Medical misdiagnosis is a type of clinical negligence that sometimes has life-changing consequences. You can make a claim if you have received the wrong diagnosis, if your diagnosis was delayed, or if you weren’t given a diagnosis at all.
If you or a member of your family have suffered as a result of medical misdiagnosis, we can make the process of claiming for compensation straightforward so that you don’t have to worry about the implications of pursuing legal action.
The first step is to get in touch using our online claim form. From there, we will arrange a free no-obligation consultation which allows you to discuss your experience and possible options available to you.
Read more: Misdiagnosis
