8th November 2024 – Our client, a middle-aged man from Folkestone, attended an outdoor activity centre with his daughter and grandson on 10.04.22. When he misjudged a step, his legs buckled beneath him causing severe pain to his right ankle and left thigh as he fell.
His daughter took him to Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham. He was triaged without pain relief then assessed by a doctor. His right ankle was cold, swollen and pale in colour. He explained what had happened and that he had high levels of pain in the right ankle and calf and in his left thigh. The doctor did not touch the ankle but asked our client to move his foot. He was able to make a slight movement side to side and up and down. He was also able to move his toes. The movement was excruciatingly painful, however, and very restricted. The doctor advised that the ankle was not broken and was likely just sprained. The ankle was not further examined or investigated.
An x-ray of the left femur was arranged which our client was told showed no fracture but that he had torn his left quad muscle. He was discharged home.
At home, he struggled to weight bear on the right foot. Eventually he was able to limp/shuffle around the house, although this was very painful. The swelling did not subside.
On 08.05.22, he attended the Minor Injuries Unit at Queen Victoria Hospital, Folkestone where a nurse asked him to kneel on a chair and squeezed his right calf muscle. She then diagnosed a ruptured Achilles Tendon, over a month after the original injury.
He was referred to an on call Orthopaedic Consultant at the William Harvey Hospital who performed the same kneel and squeeze test then requested an MRI scan. This confirmed a ruptured right Achilles tendon.
Our client was advised that surgery was the only treatment option by then.
On 17.06.22, he attended the Kent & Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury for a right tendo-achilles delayed reconstruction with FHL transfer. He was discharged home the same day. He was told that the surgery went to plan but that he would experience a long recovery including: 2 weeks immobilised in plaster, 6 weeks in a fixed boot and then 4-6 weeks of physiotherapy. This was later extended to 6 months of physiotherapy.
Our client made a formal complaint to Medway Maritime Hospital. After a lengthy investigation an admission was made that the failure to diagnosing the ruptured Achilles originally in A&E was unacceptable.
Fairweathers Solicitors LLP were instructed.
Expert evidence revealed that prompt diagnosis of the injury could have resulted in conservative treatment and that our client was likely to have ongoing disability as a result of his big toe tendon having to be harvested to reconstruct his damaged ligament. This was entirely due to the delay and was therefore an avoidable injury.This analysis was disputed and only resolved after considerable expert evidence was adduced on both sides.
The net result was that the action concluded not for the £10,000 originally offered but for £17,500.00 which more fairly reflected the differential in treatment and the longer term prognosis.
Speaking about the claim Fairweathers’ Solicitor Graham Balmforth who took over and concluded the claim commented:- “this has been a complex claim and one that in the latter stages revolved around the technical aspects of treatment and surgical intervention. It is in situations like this where experience as a medical lawyer is essential. It would be easy to value such a claim at a much lower value and in fact that is exactly what the NHS lawyers did. Familiarity with the surgical procedure meant that this client nearly doubled his award”.
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