Penningtons settles clinical negligence claim for Hampshire footballer following leg fracture

Posted: 04/05/2011

Penningtons Solicitors LLP has recently settled a claim for professional footballer, Ryan Scott, following errors in his medical treatment after breaking his leg during a match while playing for Aldershot Town Football Club.

Mr Scott suffered a fracture of his right leg during a match at Altrincham Football Club in April 2007. He was admitted to the Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester where he subsequently had surgery in May 2007. This involved nailing the fracture in position to enable healing but, during the course of the procedure, the nail used was incorrectly positioned within the bone intruding into soft tissue causing pain and affecting knee function. Mr Scott's failure to recover as expected was investigated in July 2007, the mal-alignment of the nail was identified, and he had further surgery to replace the nail with a correctly sized and positioned one.

Mr Scott brought a claim against the Wythenshawe Hospital based on expert evidence alleging that the hospital had not only failed to ensure that the original nail used was correctly positioned but also to notice before closing the wound that the nail was proud of the proximal tibia. It was his case that, with appropriate management, he would have made a full recovery and been back to full fitness by April/May 2008 at the latest rather than the end of 2008.

When Mr Scott's full time professional contract with Aldershot Town Football Club came up for renewal in 2008, he had not played since the very beginning of his last contract period and was not fit enough to undertake proper training. He had not therefore been able to prove his merit before his contract was reviewed. His contract was not renewed and he subsequently had to move to another club at a lower level.

After investigating the claim, Penningtons sent a Letter of Claim to the hospital trust and made an offer to settle. Court proceedings were subsequently issued and served after the trust failed to respond to the Letter of Claim. After considerable delay, the trust eventually accepted the offer that had been initially proposed by Penningtons and the case settled.

Mr Scott said: "I felt very let down by the hospital who knew the importance to my career of my physical fitness and the need for me to get back to playing as soon as possible. It took me over 18 months to get back to full fitness rather than the 12 months that it should have taken. The hospital's error resulted in me losing my opportunity to demonstrate my ability before my club contract ran out and the time difference has had a significant negative impact on my football career."

The case was handled by Philippa Luscombe and Steven John at Penningtons. "While we are glad that the hospital eventually took a sensible approach and settled Ryan's claim, their lengthy delay in dealing with it was not helpful. Ryan has thankfully made a full physical recovery but he will never know whether, had he been treated properly and recovered more quickly, he could have achieved a much higher career goal," said Philippa Luscombe.

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