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Failure To Diagnose Dislocated Thumb
Mr E, a retired gentleman, attended his GP Surgery after damaging his thumb in a car door. The GP listened to Mr E’s explanation of events and after examining his thumb, only diagnosed him as having suffered superficial injuries. He advised appropriate treatment.
Eventually, after some weeks of discomfort, it transpired that the thumb was in fact dislocated and Mr E had to undergo an operation to reposition the same. Eventually, he was able to regain a large degree of function in the thumb which was on his non-dominant hand.
An initial investigation was undertaken which involved obtaining Mr E’s medical records and independent medical expert evidence. This confirmed that the GP had been negligent in failing to diagnose Mr E’s dislocated thumb and to treat it appropriately.
This case was dealt with amicably throughout and the Defendant’s Solicitors made early moves to indicate that they would be prepared to consider settlement. Once the full extent of Mr E’s injury was known, the case was settled for a payment of damages of £13,000 plus payment of Mr E’s legal costs. As the matter was dealt with amicably, it was not necessary to commence Court proceedings to pursue the claim.
Samantha Buckthought who conducted this claim on Mr E’s behalf says: “This was an interesting case which is illustrative of the fact that even relatively minor injuries can have a debilitating effect. If the dislocation had been diagnosed and treated immediately, there would have been little or no residual problems for Mr E. The case was very quickly and amicably dealt with and the Defendant GP was to be praised not only for his attitude in readily accepting the merits of the claim, but also opting to re-train in respect of this type of injury and change the practices adopted at his surgery to avoid any such incident happening again.”