One woman who had an amputation carried out on her finger after several mistakes were made on the part of medical staff has recently won her medical negligence claim against the NHS Trust responsible for the hospital where the incidents occurred.
According to accident claim experts writing for the Manchester Evening News newspaper, Claire Heywood sustained an injury to one of the fingers on her left hand after it was cut on a piece of broken glass five years ago. The injured woman attended the Royal Oldham Hospital’s A&E department, where her injury was bandaged and, having been told that no serious injuries had occured, was sent home.
Mrs Heywood, herself a nurse, informed hospital staff that she had fears that a tendon had been severed during the injury, but those treating her injuries discounted her words. Meanwhile, in the weeks following her injury, the woman felt stiffness and pain in her finger, and was urgently referred to go back to hospital by her GP.
Mrs Heywood was told upon returning to hospital that she needed a tendon graft due to a severed tendon, much as she had feared during the initial A&E visit two months prior. However, the nurse saw the finger amputated in 2011 even after undergoing several surgical procedures to alleviate her condition.
In response to the negligence of hospital staff, Mrs Heywood made a personal injury compensation claim against Pennine Acute NHS Trust, which made the admission of several mistakes, including unacceptable delays in surgery, neglecting to refer the woman to a hand specialist, and failing to initially diagnose and treat the severed tendon. Mrs Heywood has since received compensation for damages from the Trust, which has also issued its apologies.