Orthopaedics and medical negligence
The term "orthopaedic" refers to the bones, muscles and joints of the human body. A doctor specialising in orthopaedics will often handle patients that have suffered bone fractures or who need joint replacement or ligament reconstruction surgery.
This can cover a huge range of personal injuries, from diagnosing a broken arm to performing a hip replacement operation. The main areas in which an orthopaedic surgeon will specialise include: the hand, shoulder and elbow surgery, joint reconstruction, paediatric orthopaedics, foot and ankle surgery, spine surgery, musculoskeletal oncology, surgical sports medicine, and orthopaedic trauma.
Many of these operations are growing increasingly complex as medical practices are advancing and complicated yet minimally invasive surgical techniques become commonplace.
Read more about orthopaedics at www.boa.ac.uk.
Orthopaedic errors
Although thousands of people are treated successfully for orthopaedic health problems each year, errors can and do happen. Mistakes made by doctors in the field of orthopaedics are unfortunately fairly commonplace and this type of medical negligence claim is now two to three times more frequent than other kinds.
As with any area of medicine, errors can be made during the diagnosis, treatment or prognosis of an illness, or any combination of the three. Some of the most common reasons for orthopaedic negligence claims include:
- inaccurate or late diagnosis
- failure to take tests or misinterpretation of test results
- poor treatment of fractures
- poor operative technique
- damage to nerves or circulation during medical procedures
- inadequate cleaning and dressing of wounds or infection
More particularly, disparity in leg length following hip or knee operations is often considered to be a poor outcome in many cases and it is fairly common to see patients with this condition make a medical negligence claim.
Claiming medical negligence compensation
Following the Public Accounts Committee finding that medical negligence affects one out of ten NHS patients, it is clear that there are many people in the UK who may well be entitled to compensation. If you believe that you are one of them and you are interested in making a personal injury claim against the person or authority that was at fault in your case, YouClaim can help.
Our solicitors work on a no win, no fee basis and, if you are not successful in your claim, you will not have to pay for their fees. However, you may be responsible for some initial costs whilst your claim is being assessed. Read more about funding a medical negligence claim.
Our personal injury solicitors have expert knowledge of medical negligence and are regarded as being some of the finest in the UK. They are very experienced in handling orthopaedic claims and are extremely adept at helping their customers to get the best possible result. Read more about our medical negligence solicitors.
We understand that many people have been traumatised and distressed by their experience and promise all of our customers that they will be treated with the utmost compassion and respect at all times. We realise that making a medical negligence claim can be a big step in moving on from the illness or injury and we are proud to help so many people to achieve this.
If you are interested in making a medical negligence claim, please call 0800 10 757 95 or fill in an online claim form. We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and so we will be here whenever is convenient for you.
