Should I make an official complaint or sue the NHS

[Redje77er]

I damaged my thumb in Feb 2019. I went to A& E and was seen by an orthopedic doctor who took an X ray and told me there was nothing broken despite my agonising pain. I was given painkillers and booked into several weeks of physio. After mo this of pain getting worse, I asked for a second opinion. This time an MRI scan revealed a break and severe misalignment due to 9 months passing. I am now going to have surgery in Feb 2020 to insert a pin in my thumb joint making it inoperable to bend anymore. I work as a self employed builder and I know this is going to cause major problems at work, climbing ladders, holding tools etc. Should I be seeking compensation from an already suffering NHS?

Can your current consultant see the fracture on the original x-ray? Would they have managed things differently from the start?

Why are you having it pinned? Surely the break has healed?

So to she the nhs. You have to prove that they were negligent

First off. Have you complained? This is always the start. Have you written to PALS? Or to the clinical director?

What losses have you incurred so far?

Had the dr noticed it sooner. What difference would it of made?

What will suing achieve that making s complaint wont?

Any reason you are jumping straight to using before even starting the complaints process?

What are you trying to achieve? What outcome do you want?

Presumably it will mean OP can recoup lost earnings.

No, I wouldn't. Dont you have insurance for injuries and illness?

The problem is some fractures don’t show up on x-ray. By the sounds of it it took an mri to show yours up. It’s perfectly reasonable to not mri every possible fracture with a negative X-ray, the nhs couldn’t sustain it and it’s not medically indicated because 99% wouldn’t actually be a fracture.

So unfortunately it sounds like here wasn’t any negligence. Unless you can find another doctor to look at the X-ray and see a fracture. But sending you off for physio and then when doing an mri when no improvement sounds more than reasonable.

I recently had a fractured fibula and the fracture is not visible on X-ray but it is visible on an mri. Mine took over 7 months to be picked up.

Sounds pretty bad to me, OP. Certainly make a complaint.

If you have lost use of your thumb permanently through negligence, I would sue. There would be loads of lawyers prepared to take on your case on a no win, no fee basis, I suspect. Go and see one and ask what they think.

There are always people who will do their utmost to defend poor practice. I do not believe that the NHS has a protocol of allowing even 1% of fractures to cause permanent disability. Assuming you followed up when the physio was not helping as soon as possible, it sounds pretty bad to me.