When hospital treatment goes wrong and victims take specialist legal advice, it is not uncommon for the NHS to put its hands up and agree to pay compensation. In one case in which that happened, an NHS trust consented to a £400,000 settlement of a pensioner’s case after negligent treatment left him quadriplegic.
The man, in his 70s, was already resident in a care home, suffering from dementia, when he fell over. He was neurologically intact when taken to hospital, but his neck collar was removed in the X-ray department and an unstable fracture in his neck dislocated. The result was a catastrophic spinal cord injury and he was left utterly dependent on the care of others.
After his wife and children contacted solicitors, the NHS trust that ran the hospital admitted negligence and took a collaborative approach to settling the case. The trust agreed the amount of damages, which will be used to fund the high level of continuing care he requires, and apologised in public for the shortcomings in his care. The High Court approved the settlement and observed that it was sad to say the least that he should spend his final days in such a degree of indignity.