Overview
A Guide to Spinal Injury
Types of Injury
Types of Claim
Bringing a Claim: Our Experience
Compensation
Towards a Positive Future: Case Reports
How to Get in Touch
Overview
If someone else’s negligence was the cause of a spinal injury, it is vital to ensure that the legal claim for compensation is pursued as soon as possible by a specialist solicitor to ensure that the important first steps are taken to progress the legal claim. Compensation can support a better quality of life, provide security for the future and enable the injured person to achieve the highest possible level of independence.
Whilst money cannot ever fully compensate for losses sustained by life changing injuries, it can help to ensure a future which is as financially secure and as comfortable as possible.
Claims for spinal cord injuries arise in a clinical negligence context when the injury has been caused by negligent medical treatment. It may be that poor treatment has caused the entirety of the injury, or that it has made an injury worse than would otherwise have been the case, had the treatment not been substandard.
Spinal injury claims are complex and will require expert evidence from a number of medical specialists. It is vital that claims of this nature are only brought by a specialist solicitor, with the necessary expertise.
Types of Claim
There are many situations in a medical context which give rise to spinal injury claims.
Examples include:
Failed diagnosis.
In these types of claims the clinician has failed to diagnose an injury or condition which, had it been diagnosed in a timely fashion, could have been treated, thereby reducing, or in some cases completing avoiding, any long-term damage.
Claims of this nature include:
- failure to diagnose a vertebral fracture
- failure to diagnose spinal compression (which may be due, for example, to a prolapsed disc or an epidural abscess). This can cause a condition called cauda equina syndrome
- failure to diagnose spinal infection
Inadequate Surgery
In these types of claims the technical execution of the surgery has been inadequate, producing a worse outcome than would have been the case had the surgery been performed to an appropriate standard.
Claims of this nature include:
Inadequate Postoperative Care
In these types of claims the care provided after surgery has been inadequate and signs of post-operative complication may have been missed and not acted upon, or treated.
Claims of this nature include:
- Inadequate postoperative care on the part of the doctor; this can include inadequate monitoring, or failure to issue sufficient instructions to the postoperative nursing team. Please see R v Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
Signs which may have been missed can include a worsening neurological condition (examples include: loss of sensation and spreading numbness, loss of control of the bladder, loss of control of the bowels)
- Inadequate postoperative review by the nursing team; this can include failure to adequately observe and record relevant signs and failure to communicate these adequately to the responsible doctors.
Signs which may have been missed can include a worsening neurological condition (as outlined above), or a cerebrospinal fluid leak (fluid leaking from the surgical wound) which is an indication that the wound has not been fully closed. This means that there is a route open to the spinal canal, via which infection can enter.
Our team of specialist solicitors have a wealth of experience of conducting clinical negligence claims involving spinal cord injury. Our solicitors have conducted cases involving each of the above sets of circumstances.
Bringing a Claim: Our Experience
Withy King has a proven track record in bringing claims for spinally injured clients.
In order to succeed with a spinal claim it is necessary to prove that the medical treatment received fell below an appropriate standard and that this has caused injury and loss.
Medical experts play a crucial role in claims of this nature, because expert medical opinion is required upon whether the care and treatment provided fell below an acceptable standard (ie whether there was a “breach of duty”) and in turn whether any substandard care has had an impact on the overall outcome (which is known as proving “causation”).
Expert evidence is also crucial in assessing the current condition of the injured person and in predicting their prognosis. It is important that the future needs of the individual are explored as fully as possible, in order to ensure that the compensation is adequate to address all future requirements arising from the injury; which is crucial in providing a secure future. Please see the “Compensation” page for an explanation of how compensation is assessed.
We have teams of spinal injury solicitors in both the field of personal injury which includes solicitors accredited to the Spinal Injury Association and in the field of clinical negligence. Our extensive experience of conducting spinal injury claims means that we have a wide network of specialist medical experts to work with us on our cases.
Towards a Positive Future: Case Reports
Whilst money comes a poor second to the loss of one’s health, the recovery of damages can nevertheless ensure recompense not only for past losses and suffering but also, importantly, for all future needs arising from the spinal injury. Ensuring these needs are adequately catered for enables the injured person to lead as fulfilling and independent a life as possible, safe in the knowledge that their future is financially secure.
Below are just a few examples of some of the cases our spinal injury clinical negligence team have settled, including the ways in which these settlements have transformed the futures of the clients involved.
CPS v NHH NHS Trust
N v T&S NHS Foundation Trust
R v Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
M v North Bristol NHS Trust
How to Get in Touch
In order to speak to one of our specialist spinal injury clinical negligence solicitors, please call us on 0800 923 2080 or email us using the link at the top of the page.
