Compensation secured for negligent treatment of child’s leg fracture at Newton Abbot Hospital

In July 2019 our client went camping for 10 days with her father. During the week prior to the camping trip our client had been complaining of intermittent hip pain following a school cricket day. The pain came and went and our client’s parents did not think much of it but advised that they were going to take her to the GP when she got back from the trip, if it persisted.

On the last day of the camping trip, our client jumped down a ledge and her leg gave way underneath her when she landed, which caused considerable pain. Her father took her to Newton Abbot Hospital where she was seen by a doctor who was unsure what was wrong so called in another doctor.

The second doctor advised our client to walk around the room, which she struggled with. He thereafter advised that she had just torn a muscle in her thigh and gave her painkillers. She was told to continue to mobilise but when asked about an x-ray, the first doctor advised that they do not tend to x-ray children and gestured to her genitals.

Our client and her father got back to London late that evening. Over the next few days our client was encouraged to mobilise, as advised, but she struggled and was in a lot of pain. Our client’s mother noticed that our client’s leg looked misaligned.

Three days after returning to London, our client’s father received a call from the first doctor at Newton Abbot advising that she was still unsure about our client and that it was not sitting well with her. He told her how our client was, and she advised them to go to A&E if she wasn’t better in a few days.

Our client’s mother took our client to A&E at St. George’s Hospital the following morning where our client was x-rayed straight away and diagnosed with a Slipped Upper Femoral Epiphysis (SUFE), a condition where the head of the upper leg bone slips off the back of the pelvis. Our client’s mother was advised that they had missed the ideal 24-hour window for surgery and she needed to wait a week to have surgery to have screws fitted in her hip.

The defendant admitted that the care provided to our client in July 2019 was substandard, in that the assessment and examination of our client at the Emergency Department fell below the standard expected. It was also admitted that there was a delay of six to seven days before our client underwent surgery. It was accepted that surgery should have been performed within 48 hours of diagnosis of SUFE. However, it was not admitted that our client would have been operated on in a different way, had it not been for the delay. Specifically, it was maintained that our client would in any event have developed avascular necrosis. Avascular necrosis is when bone tissue dies because it doesn’t have enough blood flow. In the early stages this can cause an aching pain that worsens with weight bearing. Later stages can involve increasing pain, even at rest, reduced joint movement, limping, bone collapse and arthritis of the joint. In advanced cases joint replacement surgery is needed.

Our client is permanently injured, and though she is currently able to walk it is painful and she has a limp, the extent of which varies depending upon on how much pain she is in. Our client’s mother has been advised that the blood supply to her femoral head had been compromised and she will more than likely develop avascular necrosis and need a hip replacement.  She is likely to require hip replacement surgery in the future but this would have been required in any event.