T, aged 67 years at the material time, claimed damages for personal injury suffered as a result of the negligence of Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust and Dr JG
Briefly, on 23 December 2009 T suffered a fall at her home and injured her knee. This did not subside and the next day she rang the surgery to which Dr JG practiced and she was advised to attend A&E. T was unable to attend A&E as she had no way of getting there.
T continued to suffer and on 19 January 2010 Dr JG undertook an examination of T. It was noted that she was unable to weight bear and she was referred to Southampton Hospital for x-ray.
The x-ray took place on 22 January 2010 which was reported as showing no bony injury and this was reported back to Dr JG.
T was left to have rehabilitation which was not successful and it was not until a community physiotherapist identified that her knee appeared to be in an unusual place on 23 April 2010 that the Claimant was referred for a further x-ray from the Southampton Hospital. This took place on 27 April 2010 and indicated a high riding patella (knee cap) and suspected diagnosis of patella alta.
By this time, the opportunity to correct T’s injury by surgery was lost and she has now been left disabled.
The Hospital admitted that they had failed to interpret the first x-ray appropriately but denied that the surgery would have resulted in a complete recovery.
It was denied by Dr JG that she failed to undertake a proper examination.
Proceedings were issued in view of the fact that liability remained in dispute. T settled her claim against both the Hospital and Dr JG in the sum of £200,000, 2 months before the trial date. She was assisted by our team of expert clinical negligence solicitors.
