Compensation of £100,000 secured for failure to recognise spinal deterioration leading to emergency surgery and ongoing loss of function and amenity
23 May 2024
The specialist clinical negligence team at Curtis Law Solicitors has secured a settlement of £100,000 from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for a client following failures to recognise spinal deterioration leading to emergency surgery and ongoing loss of function and amenity.
Mrs E had an extensive history of low back pain and neck pain for which she had received conservative treatment including physiotherapy. She went on to develop worsening right sided neck and arm pain with back pain radiating into the right leg. She consulted her GP who arranged imaging and referred her to the musculoskeletal clinic. From there, she was referred to the Neurosurgical Team at Charing Cross Hospital due to concerns regarding cervical myelopathy from cervical stenosis at C3 to C7.
Whilst waiting to be seen by the neurosurgeons, Mrs E developed bilateral leg numbness with left arm pain radiating into her back. She was taken by ambulance to Hillingdon Hospital for review but she was discharged with advice to exercise. Her symptoms continued to worsen and she consulted her GP on a number of occasions.
Mrs E went on to develop uncontrollable upper back pain and pins and needles all over the torso associated with numbness from the chest down with neck, shoulder and arm pain. She was taken by ambulance to Hillingdon Hospital where she was investigated for a cardiac cause and she was discharged home.
The following day, after again consulting her GP, Mrs E was taken by ambulance to Charing Cross Hospital where an MRI scan revealed new intradural extruded disc material compressing the spinal cord at C6/7 and spinal cord damage at C5-6. She underwent emergency C6/7 anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. She required extensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy following her discharge from hospital. This enabled Mrs E to return to work and to continue with the majority of her day to day activities.
We argued on behalf of Mrs E that there were failures to advise both her of the possibility that she may develop myelopathy, to advise her and her GP of the signs and symptoms that would indicate that she was developing myelopathy, to advise of the option of prophylactic decompressive surgery thereby failing to obtain her informed consent to the conservative treatment plan that was put into place, and to ensure adequate monitoring of her condition. It was further argued that there were failures to recognise and act upon both early spinal changes and the obvious changes when she attended hospital with obvious signs and symptoms of spinal compromise.
We asserted that but for these alleged breaches of duty of care, Mrs E would have been counselled about the risks of developing myelopathy and the option of decompressive surgery. This surgery would have alleviated her symptoms and prevented the subsequent deterioration, neurological compromise and the need for emergency spinal surgery, and she would have avoided any loss of long-term function and amenity. The Defendants argued that Mrs E would have been in the same position within a few years in any event due to her pre-existing spinal degeneration.
A settlement of £100,000 was achieved.
Kenneth Lees, Head of Department, said ‘In this case, the Defendants denied liability in full and forced our client to issue proceedings in order to recover the compensation that she deserved. We presented a robust case, and whilst the Defendants eventually agreed to engage in meaningful negotiations with us, this was only after a significant amount of time had passed following the issue of proceedings. We were pleased to achieve the settlement for Mrs E and wish her well for the future’
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