£600,000 settlement for diabetic man after negligent medical care of foot injury leads to amputation

Boyes Turner’s amputation claims lawyers have secured a £600,000 compensation settlement for a diabetic man after a walk-in centre and hospital’s negligent treatment of his foot injury led to a below-knee amputation. Our client has complex health concerns, including a subsequent below-knee amputation of his other leg and significant vascular disease which severely reduces his life expectation. Our client’s settlement included a previous interim payment.

Walk-in centre nurse failed to recognise our client’s fracture and high risk of infection

Our client attended a walk-in-centre with a deep wound to his left great toe after accidentally running over his foot with a lawn mower. The lawn mower accident had caused a high impact traumatic toe laceration and fracture. His medical history included diabetes, peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage often caused by diabetes), ulcers and smoking. This put him at increased risk of infection from foot injuries, but the agency nurse at the walk-in centre failed to recognise that he was at high risk of infection, or to recognise his fracture and arrange an orthopaedic review. Correct care would have led to earlier treatment and would have avoided the need for amputation.

Hospital errors in treating and limiting the spread of infection led to a below-knee amputation

Our client then attended the defendant hospital where he suffered further mistakes in his medical care. Hospital staff treated his deep infection with inadequate antibiotics, failed to diagnose that he was suffering from osteomyelitis (bone infection) and missed the opportunity to limit the spread of the infection which could have been achieved by amputating his great toe. He underwent a below-knee amputation to his left leg.

Making a claim for compensation

We pursued our client’s claim for compensation and received a joint admission of liability from the defendant hospital and agency nurse’s employer. We secured judgment on liability (fault) and gathered evidence on the remaining issues which had to be determined before our client’s claim for compensation could be valued. These included whether our client would have eventually needed an amputation even if he had been treated correctly, and his expected lifespan. Meanwhile, we secured a £75,000 interim payment which helped pay for a prosthesis and a water activity prosthesis for our client.

Then, as we were preparing the final stages of the claim, our client had a below-knee amputation to his other leg. The first (negligently caused) amputation had increased his risk of a later amputation to the other leg, but in addition, he now had significant vascular disease, which cast doubt on the cause of the second amputation and also reduced his life expectation to five years.

Following hard fought settlement negotiations with the defendants we secured a final settlement for our client of £600,000. 

If you have had or are expecting an amputation as a result of negligent medical care, and would like to find out more about making a claim, contact us by email at mednegclaims@boyesturner.com.