Orthopaedic claims

Orthopaedics is a wide field of medicine covering injuries affecting bones and joints as well as damage to soft tissues (muscles, cartilage, tendons or ligaments). Treatment can be conservative – involving therapeutic management – or may require surgery. While some fractures are straightforward and fix naturally provided they are immobilised, more complicated fractures and many joint injuries may need surgery to re-position bones so that they can fuse back together. In other cases, surgery may be elective, to try to improve pain and function, rather than because a fracture needs fixing. Common examples include hip or knee replacement surgery, where the wear and tear of everyday life has led to degeneration within the natural joint.

For patients with soft tissue damage, conservative management is often advised initially, using therapy to try to reduce pain and restore function. However, in certain cases surgical repair is needed, for example, to fix in place a tendon or ligament that has become detached, or to repair or remove damaged or loose tissue that might be limiting movement or causing pain or impingement.

Although some orthopaedic injuries are overcome with comparative ease, others can have devastating, life-changing consequences and may result in a decision to pursue an orthopaedic negligence claim. Making sure the diagnosis is correct and giving timely clinical advice and treatment are all key to achieving a good outcome. Even seemingly minor orthopaedic injuries can lead to long-term problems if they are not diagnosed or treated promptly. Negligent orthopaedic treatment may result in infection or nerve damage and in the most serious cases, can lead to amputation, profound paralysis, or even prove fatal.

Each year, hospitals treat a huge number of patients in the UK for all sorts of orthopaedic injuries. While most succeed in resolving the problem, our claims solicitors are regularly contacted by individuals who are concerned that their treatment has failed to achieve the outcome they expected and wish to explore the orthopaedic negligence claims process. A failure to listen to a patient, to understand their history and to consider and investigate the injury they might have sustained, can result in a wrong or missed diagnosis that may delay treatment and cause an injury to worsen.

Patients often come to our orthopaedic claims solicitors for advice because the poor outcome they have experienced following an orthopaedic injury has affected their work and income, or given rise to the need for care, custom-made equipment and even adaptations to accommodation. These are frequently expensive and can be life-long. We are also approached to act on behalf of athletes who have sustained injury following treatment, which potentially affects their sporting career.

Penningtons Manches Cooper specialises in these serious orthopaedic negligence claims, aiming to ensure clients receive maximum compensation while minimising the legal costs involved. We are always happy to discuss orthopaedic claims and any other medical negligence compensation cases on an informal, no-obligation basis in the first instance.