Lauren, 35, Cumbria

JMW has successfully obtained £130,000 compensation for a woman after doctors failed to diagnose her fractured kneecap leading to multiple complications.

Hospital doctors failed to diagnose and appropriately treat a fracture to Lauren’s kneecap when she was 10 causing her pain and deformation. For several years Lauren did not realise that had she been given proper medical treatment her knee would have healed normally.

However when it came to light at an appointment at a different hospital she contacted the specialist medical negligence team at JMW for advice and she was later awarded £130,000 in compensation. 

Accident

When Lauren was 10 she was involved in an accident and sustained an injury to her left knee. She was taken to hospital and on examination her knee was found to be very painful and she could not bend and straighten her leg. An X-Ray was reported as showing that some sort of fracture to the knee cap had occurred. 

However, hospital doctors failed to accurately diagnose Lauren’s fracture and did not recognise that the tendon in her knee had ruptured. As a result. they incorrectly applied a plaster cast for five months before operating to reattach her tendon to the kneecap. By this stage, it was too late to repair the injury to her knee.

Concerns raised

Following this treatment, Lauren was left with swelling in her knee, which also regularly ‘clicked’. Lauren’s knee was quite deformed and she was upset about its appearance. 

Approximately 10 years later she was seen by a consultant at a different hospital who raised concerns about the original treatment of her fracture all those years ago. The consultant believed improper treatment of the fracture had caused Lauren’s problems. Lauren underwent numerous investigations and procedures to try to improve the function and appearance of the knee but the chance for it to heal effectively had essentially been missed due to the earlier negligent treatment.

Successful claim brought

Lauren contacted the specialist solicitors at JMW for help and her case was taken on by Melissa Gardner. Although there were several complexities with the case due to the amount of time that had passed Melissa was successful in obtaining Lauren £130,000 in compensation for her many years of suffering and the poor outcome for her knee.