Boyes Turner’s spinal cord injury (SCI) solicitors secured a £1.75 million compensation settlement for a woman who was left with permanent disability after A&E doctors discharged her from hospital without providing safety netting advice about her risk of cauda equina syndrome (CES). Discharged from A&E without safety netting advice Our client had attended the hospital’s A&E department with back pain and a three-week history of pain in her right leg, as well as numbness, a tingling sensation and difficulty mobilising. She was seen by a junior (resident) doctor who noted lumbar disc prolapse (slipped disc) and sought advice from the trauma and orthopaedic registrar. Without reviewing or examining our client in person, and despite her history of back pain, sciatica and worsening symptoms, the registrar discharged her from hospital without any ‘safety netting’ advice about CES symptoms to look out for or what she should do if her symptoms got worse. Instead, a GP referral to the spinal clinic was considered with the possibility of a future treatment with an MRI scan, injection and surgery. Patient unaware that her worsening symptoms were cauda equina red flags Back at home and unaware that her worsening symptoms in her legs and genital numbness were red flags for cauda equina nerve compression and that she needed urgent treatment, our client assumed her symptoms to be side effects from her pain relief medication. She sought an appointment with her GP, which took place a few days later. The GP noted her recent history of increasing pain, spreading numbness and loss of sensation and weakness in her legs and told her to go back to A&E. She attended A&E the same evening and, after medical assessment and review, she was referred to a more specialist hospital and underwent decompression surgery the next day. Disability from cauda equina syndrome (CES) She was left with permanent disability from cauda equina syndrome (CES), including reduced sensation below the waist and into her legs, impaired bowel function and neuropathic bladder with urinary urgency. Our client is resilient and remains as active and independent as possible, but her mobility is affected by pain in her legs, difficulties walking uphill and climbing stairs, and fatigue after walking. She suffered a psychological injury. Cauda equina syndrome injury claim leads to admission of liability We helped our client make a cauda equina injury compensation claim from the NHS trust whose doctors had discharged her without providing safety netting information to help her recognise and act on ‘red flag’ dangerous symptoms of CES. If correct safety netting information had been given to her before discharge, she would have gone back to A&E when her red flag symptoms appeared. Her condition would have been diagnosed, confirmed by MRI scan and surgically treated much sooner, and she would have avoided her disability. NHS Resolution initially denied liability on behalf of the NHS trust, but when we issued proceedings they admitted that the A&E doctor’s safety netting advice to our client was negligent. We secured a judgment on liability for our client. You can read more about the liability proceedings here. £1.75 million settlement will meet lifelong needs arising from CES disability We secured an interim payment for our client to help meet her immediate needs whilst we worked with her and with our experts to understand her needs arising from her CES disability, many of which were challenged in the expert evidence commissioned by NHS Resolution. A few months before trial, we met with NHS Resolution at a round table meeting (RTM) and negotiated a settlement which provides our client with £1.75 million in compensation, a sum more than 12 times NHS Resolution’s valuation of the claim. The settlement provides our client with long-term financial security and will enable her to move with her family to more suitable level-access accommodation, and pay for additional help with housework and childcare, and physiotherapy and psychological support. If you or a family member have suffered severe injury as a result of medical negligence or have been contacted by HSSIB/MNSI or NHS Resolution you can talk to a solicitor, free and confidentially, for advice about how to respond or make a claim by contacting us.
