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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why doctor would be certify someone as unfit for any work with just a sprained ankle?

212 replies

Trevorsarse · 14/08/2021 19:42

Someone my dh works with has been off with a sprained ankle for three weeks. Happened on the last day of his holiday. He has just sent in his fit note (very late) and it says he is not fit for work. He does the same job as my dh, some work on their feet but everyone does plenty of desk work too. So, he could easily just do all the desk bits and other people do all the walking/standing bits. Apparently the boss would be happy to have him do shorter/less hours and take longer breaks too but the guy has said he's not capable as he needs to rest.
It's really effecting their work because there are other people off on holiday on their small team so its putting them under loads of pressure.
I'm just wondering why the doctor signed off as completely unable to work on the grounds of a sprained ankle because surely there is work that he can do? When I sprained mine (and it was bad as I ended up needing an operation on it) I just had 4 days off and then went back to work on my crutches with my colleagues helping me out fetching stuff etc. Never thought to get signed off for over 3 weeks! Am I the mug here?

OP posts:

Cosybelles · 14/08/2021 20:11

Have you actually seen this fit note and does it definitely include the words sprained ankle? It might be for something else and this person doesn't want to give the 'real' medical reason. It's irrelevant really - all that matters is that they have been signed off.

Floralnomad · 14/08/2021 20:13

Perhaps he’s telling his colleagues he has a sprained ankle and he’s really got something else , either way it’s none of your business

BikeRunSki · 14/08/2021 20:13

All sprains are not equal. If it’s a recurring injury, it can take several weeks rest to heal.

BrilloPaddy · 14/08/2021 20:14

We had the opposite of this in that someone came in with a badly sprained ankle, needing to use crutches. Our building is on several levels and we've got heavy firedoors so every time this person wanted to go anywhere, someone had to put down what they were doing and help. Every hot drink, break and toilet trip got beyond a joke as it took so long. After 2 days of it, we had to be quite firm and say that although we knew they needed the money, they just weren't fit to work.

Blossomtoes · 14/08/2021 20:16

@FrankButchersDickieBow

Well the doctor has signed them off as not fit to work. The rest of it is really none of your business.

This. I’d be fucking livid if my colleagues were sharing my medical information with their spouses.

EdithWeston · 14/08/2021 20:17

Bad sprains take as long as a break to heal properly.

Much better to take the time to heal now, in accordance with what his doctor recommends (and has signed him off for) than have enduring weakness

GeorgiaGirl52 · 14/08/2021 20:18

It sounds like your husband's boss is reasonable and accommodating. Not all of them are. My son's job requires mostly standing at a counter taking orders and handing over trays of food. At the end of his 9-hour shift he has to lift and store 30-pound boxes and drag heavy bins out of the building across the parking lot to the trash yard. When he had surgery his doctor said he could okay a return to work for the counter but not for the boxes and bins. Son's boss said if he came back to work he was expected to do the whole job!!! So he stayed home for three weeks.

Samafe · 14/08/2021 20:18

So glad you don't work with me.

SusieBob · 14/08/2021 20:18

You sound jealous.

I'd be inlinded to trust the word of a doctor over the wife of a workmate. It's none of your business.

Janaih · 14/08/2021 20:20

If there are not enough staff members to handle the workload, any grievance should be aimed at management, not someone signed off sick.

robotcollision · 14/08/2021 20:20

My DSis sprained her ankle this year and needed several weeks off work. Before that, she'd not missed a day in twenty years, so clearly it's a more complicated painful injury than it sounds.

MontysMinions · 14/08/2021 20:20

What he tells his colleagues on WhatsApp and what he discusses with his doctor, who signs him off are 2 very different things

I've had several miscarriages. Told my colleagues I had various illnesses for all of them but my fit note stated the reason. There was no way I was going to tell my work colleagues the real reason!

RJnomore1 · 14/08/2021 20:21

Different viewpoint.

He’s telling people it’s an ankle, it may not be.

Original poster

Trevorsarse · 14/08/2021 20:26

I don't get that because your ankle is injured you can't do some desk-based work from home. Doing so would not be "presenteeism", it would be making a reasonably small effort to help your team out when you are totally able to.

OP posts:

Clocktopus · 14/08/2021 20:26

That too, @RJnomore1.

When I was off sick due to a complicated miscarriage I told work colleagues that I'd had a bad kidney infection.

Clocktopus · 14/08/2021 20:28

it would be making a reasonably small effort to help your team out when you are totally able to.

Potentially at the cost to your health. The thing about I juries is that you only get one opportunity to heal.

It is none if your business, OP. Beak out and keep your opinions to yourself. A doctor has decided he is not fit for work, there ends the discussion as car as anyone else is concerned.

StarDrawers · 14/08/2021 20:29

@Trevorsarse

Maybe the doctor has told him he has to sit with his ankle elevated. You have no idea and seem overinvested in your husband's colleagues' health.

Catchthepigeons · 14/08/2021 20:29

I did my ankle in about 10 years ago, I tried to walk after 3 days and it gave way again and bent at 90° under my weight. I couldn't walk for a month and had to basically lie down to elevate it and reduce the swelling. It was worse than a break as the ligaments are permanently damaged and even now I have a lump of scar tissue on the side of my foot.

He could easily be telling the truth.

ArchbishopOfBanterbury · 14/08/2021 20:30

The Dr knows the reason he can't do his desk job from home. You don't.

Not all sprained ankles are the same. Some require serious painkillers which mean even desk work is too much, and some require regular physio/excercises which can't be done while working.

ConfusedParticle · 14/08/2021 20:32

are you IDS?

SunbathingDragon · 14/08/2021 20:35

@Trevorsarse

Not if he isn’t able to focus due to painkillers or if he is constantly hobbling to the loo because the medication gives him diarrhoea or sickness. You don’t know. You believe without seeing him or his medical records that you are better qualified to judge his fitness than a doctor.

Sprains aren’t comparable. That’s assuming he even has one and isn’t signed off for something else. If the GP wanted an easy life and signed him off regardless, it would be unlikely to be for as long as three weeks. The GP genuinely believes he is not fit to work. That last sentence is all you need to focus on.

FangsForTheMemory · 14/08/2021 20:36

I had a colleague with a desk job who got signed off for six weeks with a broken arm. I always assumed it was actually stress or similar, but none of my business anyway.

CovidCorvid · 14/08/2021 20:36

Maybe if you’d rested more you wouldn’t have needed surgery?

Putting your leg up all day and reducing swelling can really help the outcome. How would he get to work? I went to work on crutches for a week once and it was a nightmare….I was useless on the crutches and what should have been a 8 min walk from the station took 30 mins and I was exhausted.

CovidCorvid · 14/08/2021 20:39

And when I had ankle surgery I had six weeks off work even though i now work from home as I had to have it elevated all the time.

SunbathingDragon · 14/08/2021 20:39

When I sprained mine (and it was bad as I ended up needing an operation on it)

It can be a relatively minor sprain that can need an operation and a bad sprain that doesn’t. Most people do more damage after the event that caused the sprain (or injury) in the first place by not recuperating and resting, or getting home from where they hurt themselves.

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