The impact of surgical negligence on careers: calculating financial compensation

One of the main concerns for people who have suffered harm as a result of a surgical error or delayed surgery is how the injury may affect their ability to work.

While some individuals are able to return to employment relatively quickly, others find that their injuries have long-term consequences for their career, earning capacity and financial security. The impact can be particularly significant where a person’s role is physically demanding, where they are no longer able to carry out the duties they once performed, or where negligent treatment disrupts future career plans.

When pursuing a surgical negligence claim, compensation can be recovered for losses arising from the negligence – for example, for lost earnings – as well as compensation for the injury itself. However, the financial consequences of negligent surgery can vary considerably, as demonstrated by the case study examples below.

Not all substantial loss of earnings claims involve high earners

We acted for a young woman who worked as a sales assistant in a shop before suffering from lower limb and neurological injuries as a result of delayed surgical treatment. Due to the negligence, she was left with significant physical limitations and was unable to stand for prolonged periods.

Given the nature of her role, she was unable to return to her previous employment. The medical evidence also indicated that securing and maintaining alternative employment would be extremely challenging because of the other restrictions she faced; in particular, lower limb pain, and bladder and bowel issues such as urinary incontinence.

While her annual earnings before the negligence were relatively modest, the long-term consequences were substantial. Her disabilities were expected to continue throughout her working life and so her future loss of earnings claim became significant when calculated over the decades she would otherwise have remained in employment.

This illustrates that a loss of earnings claim is not determined solely by how much somebody earned before the negligence occurred. The impact of the injury on their future ability to work can be equally important.

Adaptations resulting in a modest loss of earning claim

We represented a self-employed farmer in a claim involving a delay in diagnosing cauda equina compression. Due to delayed surgery, he suffered from long term symptoms, including foot drop, bladder and bowel issues, and a loss of sexual function.

Prior to the negligence, our client was heavily involved in the day-to-day physical running of a farm. Afterwards, his ongoing symptoms, particularly foot drop, made many aspects of his work more difficult and restricted his ability to carry out the manual tasks that had previously formed part of his daily routine.

Despite these challenges, our client was determined to continue working, and through adapting his working practices and changing the way certain tasks were completed, he was able to remain involved in the business and continue generating an income. As a result, the direct impact on his earnings was relatively modest.

We did, of course, claim for other losses, for example the aids and equipment he used to be able to continue working, such as ankle-foot orthotics to keep his foot at a 90 degree angle and stop it from dragging.

Claiming for the impact on future career ambitions

Surgical negligence can affect career prospects even before a person has entered the workplace. In one instance, we represented a young woman who was studying at college. A significant appendix stump was left behind after appendix removal surgery, which caused her to experience years of abdominal pain, and she had to have multiple invasive investigations until it was finally discovered and removed.

Before the negligence occurred, she had ambitions to become a veterinary surgeon and had been working towards the qualifications required to pursue that career. Unfortunately, the consequences of the negligent treatment disrupted her studies and delayed her educational progress.

Claims involving students and young people often present unique challenges because there may be no established earnings history. Instead, it is necessary to consider what the individual was likely to have achieved had the negligence not occurred.

In this case, evidence was gathered regarding our client’s academic performance, educational plans and career aspirations, and a loss of earnings claim was made successfully.

Although proving what a young person would have gone on to achieve is rarely straightforward, it was possible to demonstrate that the negligence had adversely affected future career prospects, resulting in an award of compensation.

Emily Hartland, associate in the medical negligence team who represented the clients mentioned in this article, comments: “One of the aspects of surgical negligence claims that clients often find most concerning is the uncertainty about their future. Questions such as whether they will be able to continue in their chosen career, return to work at all, or achieve the ambitions they had before the negligence can be a significant source of worry.

“Through my work, I have seen how the impact of surgical negligence can vary enormously from one person to another. Sometimes the effect on earnings is relatively modest because a client is able to adapt and continue working, similar to the farmer we supported. However, in other cases, the consequences can be life-changing and affect an individual’s earning capacity for the rest of their working life. Understanding those individual circumstances is a vital part of ensuring that a claim accurately reflects the full impact of the negligence.”