I had a frontal hip injection back in Nov 2014, and was injected with cortasone to see if the pain was coming from my hip or my knee, however, whilst having the injection i felt somthing crunch and the pain was very bad, i lost feeling in my left leg and i am now disabled and on many pain killers, and spent 6 days in hospital after the hip injection, i had asked the hospital what went wrong they said nothing went wrong, i then made a complaint, still no answers, i then made a complaint to the parliamentry health ombudsman, they looked at my complaint and said there is no evidence to support a finding of any failings in the care the trust provided. or any findings that somthing had gone wrong, they said i signed the consent form, the hospital who was dealing with me no longer wants to see me or deal with me and now have sent me off to London some 300 miles away, the neurologist there a Dr Sinisi has said he feels that the latral nerve as been punchtured because of the frontal hp injection, i told the Ombudsman this and they said it makes no diff. can anyone give me any advice on this matter.
i did go to a solicitor and they said wait until i hear off the ombudsman to see if i can make a claim
I can only imagine your frustration through this - the disablement and the system's refusal to admit that something adverse occurred when clearly something did occur to cause this. I wish I had useful advice, but I don't.
I can only wish you well in pursuing this. A consent and agreement form may invalidate any claims against the hospital but there should be some forum from which you can get compensation of some kind for this type of outcome.
I am truly sorry for your troubles.
L
When I had an injection they did it while looking at a sonogram to get to the exact spot. Did they use a sonogram with you?
I signed a consent form, but I am pursung a complaint of medical negligence aginst my hospital & surgeon on a no-win, no-fee arrangement. This does mean that if I win, I then have to give up some of it (legally this is a max of 25%) to the legal people.
I think the consent is to operate, not to protect them from their negligence.
My main wish however, is to ensure the procedures are tightened up so that no-one else gets what I did.
Graham
Mike there may be a case of a cover up. When you sign a consent form they are supposed to note down what can go wrong and talk to you about it. I hope you get justice. Even so one does not go into a procedure expecting to be disabled. I hope you get justice. Keep fighting x
Dear Mike
I am so sorry to hear what has happened to you, and I too have been paralysed in left foot through THR and know exactly what you mean by nerve pain!!! You are two years on from this incident almost, so not sure if physio would help, possibly too late now, but if you have not gone down that route, at least try to privately see one (has to be very experienced in your sort of injury) and ask his opinion? Make sure he or she has nothing to gain by telling you this, ie make it obvious you will be going back to NHS for this (not that NHS will provide it) but you will get an honest answer.
I would also like to say to you that you state the hospital washed their hands off you and sent you to London, but to be fair if you read all my posts all over THR discussions, you would know I recommend the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in London, and Dr Sinisi is part of that academy, plus only a Neurologist can assist you now. Has he said anything about the nerve regenerating at all? That can happen but at roughly 1” per month and if you have showgirl legs, you are in for the long haul.
Furthermore there is no such thing as a consent form – it has to be informed – did they tell you cortisone injection could disable you? And even more to the point as said above, consent does not allow for negligence and there is a case there possibly, let alone compounded negligence by refusing to take responsibility for what happened. If you walked into that hospital and then were wheeled out – then we all know where the fault lies. At that point, given the right advice by the Doctor you might very well have had a much different outcome to what you have here two years later. However, no use speculating.
Find out who specialises in Hospital Injuries, read articles in papers on negligence cases, who represented plaintiffs, check internet but do not get charlatans or high street Joe Bloggs and ask for no win no fee, you will lose approx. 25% if you win of your damages (which can be a big chunk at the end of the day) but that is all if the other side wins. But make sure you get the right Firm. If nothing else Dr Sinisi is willing to say nerve damage took place and they will also provide other medical evidence and even get medical advice on whether you can recover given enough money to throw at your disablement.
Finally, Ombudsmen of any description are wonderful people and all have usually been drawn either from council, hospital or civil servant backgrounds. Are they going to turn on their own? I always say if you can deal with it on your own, then sidetrack any of these type of organisations and go straight to a Solicitor or small claims court.
Regards Dot
What a wonderful post and advice!
Hi Mike, I too have been permanently disabled by the poor skills of the surgeon at my local hospital and am now under the Royal National Orthopeadic Hospital. I am going through the medical negligence route, where my new consultant says that the original stem of my hip was put in incorrectly, causing huge muscle damage and multiple dislocations. Basically it comes down to one persons opinion against another, with no doubt further examinations from independant specialists. I'm sure your consent form didn't list the risks of permenant damage to the nerve and disability! usually it covers things like possible infections, DVT etc. However I'm sure it doesn't absolve them of their 'duty of care'. After all, isn't their oath.....Do no harm!
Keep going with it, I don't know if I'll be sucessful, but it would be nice to think that I would be able to buy in help when I need it.
Best wishes PatsyX
Hi Patsy and Mike
good solicitors conducting cases involving hospital negligence et cetera will always have lists of the best medio legal Consultants in various elements of the national health service, who know how to give evidence in court under cross-examination. Apart from that you both are under the excellent Royal orthopaedic hospital which is the gold standard for THRs especially when they go wrong.
Regards Dot
Hi Mike I'm so sorry you are having such a bad time.Did they do the injection under C-Ray? I. Received mine in that fashion.The Dr. Said some just gave it in the office.Those needles go deep.I can see something like a needle going through a nerve happening.They don't want to own it because they don't want to be sued.My femur fractured and the almost 3 weeks post op.The Dr.explained everything that factored into that fracture and what things factored into it healing.He explained good healing and bad healing and is watching it on a monthly basis.He said it should not of happened.Love the honesty and his good ,thorough explanation.I think it sounds like that's what you need.Good luck,hope you get your answers.Hope things improve .
Wow! So sorry you are going through this ! I hope all goes well in your favor! God's blessings to you. 🤗 Hugs, LD
Hi Mike, sorry to hear about your situation. I also have nerve damage but it was a result of my right hip replacement last year. I will have a second opinion in 2 weeks. The operating MD told me I had a hematoma and this was causing all my pain, after my complaining and whining he sent me off to the pain people to fix the problem and I am positive he never mentioned the possiblity of nerve damage. I looked in the medical literature to search for the incident of nerve damage and resolution in cases that were done with the lateral approach, in order to prepare for my 2nd opinion. I found a good article. Well to my absolute surprise, guess who the author was? Yep, my surgeon was the author. Maybe he should have read the article (hope he wasn't publishing his resident's work as his own!)
Anyways... advice on your sitution. About five years ago I had another problem with a physician. I live in Canada, so I sent a letter of complaint to the ontario college of physicians. They reviewed the case and said the physican was not at fault but that I could appeal their decision. I was pretty upset about it since I couldn't believe that they could come to this conclusion, and he could continue to harm other patients. In appeal cases they have to send you all the documentation that the other party has given in their defense. Also you could only appeal if the college had made an error. I wasn't sure what to do. Before the appeal I had to attend a pre-appeal meeting with the college's laywers, the md's lawyer, and there was another lawyer from the appeals' board. I didn't have a lawyer. I work in a hospital and I knew (slightly) the MAC chair. (this is the top MD in our university hospital). I asked his advice, since he was involved in many cases with the college. He told me that it doesn't matter what I say, it doesn't matter what the md says. It comes down to the documentation of the MD and that's it. So in my case I poured over the documentation as did my husband. My husband is an engineer and he found the descrepancy. During the pre-appeals meeting, you could hear a pin drop when I calmed pointed it out. The case was settled at that point and did not go to appeals. My advice to you is to get a copy of your chart from the health records department of the hospital, if you don't already have it. or have your GP ask for it. Look for what they wrote in the chart, and look for what they didn't write. Do you have a health professional as a friend who can help you go through it? Sorry I don't understand the ombudsman role. He's right in that anyone can have an opinon, however there is more weight given to an opinion if it is backed up by evidence such as the symptoms that you are having.
Best of luck to you,
Leah
Hi Leah
glad to hear that you are sorting things out overseas both legally and medically and congratulate u on studying all the paperwork. Anyone doing this on their own must always remember to read every i t and dot of paperwork when dealing with this sort of paperwork. It really is amazing how many times the truth can be found therein because the professions do not think about what they write at the time being scrutinised later by a non professional.
Regards Dot
It's just a shame that RNOH should have to shoulder the burden of these failed operations like ours.
I just hope my case persuades the hospital to change their procedures and put the X-Ray under the surgeon's nose (or at least someone competent at reading a THR X-Ray) before discharging the patient.
Graham
I had a couple of letters back from solicitors stating that in order to proceed with a medical negligence claim there must be proof, and i did say to them that how can i get proof as a punctured femoral lateral nerve does not show up on any scans, xrays, etc, so how can i prove that there is damage? they just said sorry we cant help.. the last thing i am going to try is getting some proof from a Doctor in London, a Dr Sinisi, he is one of two top neurologist in the UK, and he as said to me that he thinks that its the Femeral Lateral nerve that has been punctured because of the frontal hip injection and he now want me to have a QST test done, the QST is to test the leg for hot and cold and that will determen if there is any damage or not, so now i am waiting for the appointment to come thro.. this is so hard and ist wearing me, my wife down, i just wish solicitors could help but they cant, the Parliamentery Ombudsman are on the sides of the hospital, i feel i am on a losing battle here...
i would like to thank everyone for their help and support, and all advice as been brilliant... thank you all
Good luck Mike. I truly hope the neurologist is able to establish adequate proof.
Wishing you and your wife good luck Mike - May the right person show up at the right time -
big warm hug for you both
renee
update.. I had a letter from the Health Ombudsman saying that their findings did not find anything wrong with the procedure i had done and they are closing the case. to be honest i half expected that from them, ..
I had My QST done on the 11th October 2016 and the test lasted for just over 30 mins, and Professor Anand said to me after the test that there is signifant damage to my latral nerve, my femaral nerve and my genital nerve and he feels there is prob no opp that will help put things rite, but he will send his findings back to Dr Sinisi who is a top surgeon in London to see if a opp would put things right..
I now have a new Solicitor to help me deal with this case as i now have new eviedance, we will see
dear mike,
I am sorry to hear this, but like you already mentioned, it is not unexpected.
good luck and let us know how you're getting on. .
light, love and lots of strength
big warm hug
Renee
Sorr that you are going through so much. Wishing you lots of luck and lifting you up in prayer that you will find peace, healing and that all will go well for you. Hugs, LD