Operation Failed - Advise Needed - Not a medical thread

I wouldn't be doing anything until this new doctor has got the files and gone through everything.

Seems to early to be jumping on the compo band wagon.
 
I have to admit I am fundamentally against claiming against the health service just because an operation did not have the desired affect. I would never assume that surgery will be the end of any trouble, simply one possible remedy that comes with a whole bunch of potential risks and complications.

However, if it turns out that the surgeon/doctor did something that negligent and against procedure, that is a different story.

As you have said yourself, she didn't bother to go back to the surgeon to say she was still having difficulty. There is no excuse for that and it sounds to me like it's a simple "Oh well, this isn't ideal... I know, I'll make a claim". Not sure how this can even be called 'Operation Failed' as she hasn't even bothered to follow it up so how do you know it failed?
 
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So the specialist, with seemingly little information on the history of this patient and no notes from the hospital has commented that her wrist looks odd.... and you want to now sue? Even though she already had an injury... Why was she not refereed back to the consultant/surgeon she'd previously seen... the people who carried out the operation etc..

Really can't stand people like the OP... just looking at suing hospitals because something hasn't worked out as you'd have liked.
 
Let us go back to the OP. Let us go back to my first comment.

If you want anyone to sue, with any chance of success, then sue the insurance of the crack head who caused the most recent accident, and had the most recent loss and injury as a result of.
Yes there is pre-existing injury, but she is sore now, from that, seek compensation regarding that from his insurance.
 
snips86x said:
When my mother-in-law was in her teens, she had a bike which she managed to fall off and damage her wrist. Ever since, its not been right and getting gradually worse.

About 6-10 months ago, she had a wrist operation to remove some of the bones which were fractured & in bits. The operation seemed to go well.
About a week ago, she had an appointment with a physio who referred her to a hand specialist as the physio wasn’t really working.

The hand specialist examined her wrist and said the wrist shouldn’t look like it did and it was almost unrecognisable. Though feeling the wrist, she was unable to determine what bones had been removed, this is where she said it was unrecognisable. She also mentioned that is didn’t look like it should and most certainly shouldn’t have limited mobility, like she is having.

Since the hand specialist was unable to determine what bones were removed, she's requested from the hospital all the paper work, Xrays and all matter of documents relating.

Forward to yesterday and she’s involved in a car crash, she gets shunted from behind, total of 4 cars involved and a ****ing crack head is the cause at the tail end.

She’s in to A&E last night with the pain where she’s been told its fractured & there is nothing they can do at the moment – return tomorrow if its still painful.

Now, to me it sounds like the operation was either mis-guided or someone made an error.

Would this be grounds to compensation?
If What the specialist said is true, is court an option?

To make matters worse, she has a 14yr old disabled son - this scenario is not looking good for her!!
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How did the post-op follow up visits to the hospital go? I assume they reviewed the results of the surgery?


Sometimes surgery works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it makes things worse. Your mother-in-law must have signed a consent form agreeing to this so there can be no legal ramifications unless some other gross error was made (but there is no evidence of such, this would be like operating on the wrong hand or leaving scalpel in the body).

The only thing to be concerned about is the health of your mother and what should be done next. Sometimes follow up surgery is needed, sometimes longer more intensive physio.

If your mother-in-law is now having difficulties looking after her 14 yo son then this has priority - contact social services to see what help can be provided.
 
Mat said:
If you ever manage to get hold of a copy of the x-ray, it would be interesting to see what it looks like now bearing in mind this is what it is supposed to look like:



You remove a few bones and fragments from in there and I'm not really surprised it's no longer recognisable. With that in mind, I'm not sure what the specialist expected really but then I'm no expert.
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I'm by no means any kind of medical professional, but having broken my wrist a number of years back, I learned a good few things about them.

This sounds like it was probably a scaphoid fracture, which is incredibly common and if you say bones or fragments have been removed, its far more likely to be something like that than the radius or ulna connecting your wrist to the rest of your body.

From what I understand, scaphoid fractures don't always present themselves the same as more obvious fractures and especially in the past they could go somewhat undiagnosed. If not treated properly, they can lead to pain, arthritis and possible deformities.

Going by the OP's story, it sounds like she has had this condition for a very long time. She then had recent surgery to help with pain and perhaps mobility. At which stage, given it wasn't a fracture she went in for, she would likely have had to have already been treated by a hand specialist who then signed her off for physiotherapy. The Physio then thinks something is wrong and has referred her back to a hand specialist....

It's at this point that I think you can look at it two ways...

- On the one hand, its that they've done something wrong and therefore you want to try and get compensation.

- On the other, its that this was that it was an attempt to fix an existing condition, but hasn't really worked. If we are talking about somebody who has had this a long time, especially if they are older, then healing is going to be more difficult, as is more likely pain from arthritis and limited mobility.

Its difficult without seeing the whole picture, but the second option presents itself as the more likely scenario.
 
D.P. said:
Sometimes surgery works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it makes things worse. Your mother-in-law must have signed a consent form agreeing to this so there can be no legal ramifications unless some other gross error was made (but there is no evidence of such, this would be like operating on the wrong hand or leaving scalpel in the body).
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I have vast experience that just because a Consent Form is signed it doesn't mean that the patient knew what the outcome may actually be even if all the possible outcomes are wrote down.
 
Dimple said:
I have vast experience that just because a Consent Form is signed it doesn't mean that the patient knew what the outcome may actually be even if all the possible outcomes are wrote down.
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Yes, but this doesn't really fall into that category in all likelihood. There is no suggestion of anything out of the ordinary here at the moment bar a set of unfortunate circumstances.
 
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