Misdiagnosis Of A Fracture – How Much Could I Claim?

By Jo Anderson. Last Updated 24th July 2023. Avoidable pain and permanent health issues can be caused due to a fracture being misdiagnosed. Therefore, you could potentially receive compensation for the unnecessary pain and suffering if the misdiagnosis was caused by medical negligence.

Depending on the extent and ramifications of the injury, you could receive both general and special damages compensation for the misdiagnosis of a fracture.

Misdiagnosis of a fracture claims guide

Misdiagnosis of a fracture claims guide

This guide will answer important questions, such as:

  • How can fractures be misdiagnosed?
  • What are the commonly missed fractures in radiology?
  • What is the personal injury claims time limit?
  • In personal injury claims, what kind of damages can you claim?
  • What are the benefits of using a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor?

Our advisors are available 24/7 and offer free legal advice so, to see if you’re eligible to claim, please get in touch with us at a time that works for you.

Please read on to learn more about how you could claim for a misdiagnosed injury, such as a fractured wrist or fractured ankle.

Select A Section

  1. A Guide To Claiming Compensation For Misdiagnosis Of A Fracture
  2. What Is A Fracture Of A Bone?
  3. A Misdiagnosed Fracture
  4. What Are The Symptoms Of Misdiagnosed Fractures?
  5. Calculating Compensation For The Misdiagnosis Of A Fracture
  6. What Costs Could Compensation Help Me With?
  7. Claiming For A Fracture Misdiagnosis With A No Win No Fee Solicitor
  8. Learn More

A Guide To Claiming Compensation For Misdiagnosis Of A Fracture

A missed fracture could happen for different reasons. For the purpose of this guide and making a compensation claim the missed fracture must have occurred because of medical negligence. Medical negligence is when doctors or medical professionals do not provide care within their professional standards that can lead to a negative impact on your quality of life. They have a duty of care to patients they accept to treat and, if their actions go below the expected standard of care within their profession, causing avoidable harm you could claim compensation.

Therefore, as with any personal injury claim, to make a medical negligence claim for compensation, the below three things need to be true:

  1. The third-party has a duty of care towards you
  2. Their actions or inactions must lead to a breach of this duty of care
  3. This must lead to a worsening of your injury or create a new injury

It’s important to bear in mind that a worsening of your condition doesn’t necessarily mean that medical professionals did anything wrong or acted below the standards of their profession.

If you decide to claim, peers of the doctor you’re claiming against will review the medical actions to see if the required standard was met. This is called the Bolam Test. Therefore, if medical professionals deem that the relevant doctor or department has been negligent, your claim is more likely to succeed.

For more information about this process or to see what compensation you could receive, please contact our team for free legal advice. You can contact them 24/7 using the details above.

What Is A Fracture Of A Bone?

A fracture is either a partial or complete break in the bone. This can be caused by extreme force to a bone or joint through a slip, trip or fall or an accident at work. The symptoms of a fracture include:

  • Immediate pain or discomfort
  • An inability to move the injured body part
  • The body part being unable to bear weight

Immediate medical attention is required to alleviate the pain and receive treatment. Depending on the severity of it, a fracture can lead to potential medical complications. For example, a fractured rib bone can cause a collapsed lung.

A Misdiagnosed Fracture

A misdiagnosed fracture is when a fracture is missed or diagnosed as something else. This leads to the incorrect treatment or recovery plan being performed or recommended by medical professionals. This can then result in further medical complications.

If the medical professionals are deemed negligent, you could receive compensation for all unnecessary pain and suffering caused by the misdiagnosis. For instance, extensive surgery could be required once the correct diagnosis is made. If the injury had been treated correctly in the first place, this may not have been needed. It could cause undue stress and trauma.

You could claim for clinical and medical negligence if you’ve been injured or suffered unnecessarily because of negligent treatment by medical professionals. The same principles apply to any healthcare provider, whether you want to claim against the NHS or a private healthcare company. Medical professionals have a duty of care. If their actions have gone below the required standard, this could be considered medical negligence.

To learn more about claiming compensation for the misdiagnosis of a fracture, please contact our team for free legal advice. They can confirm if you’re able to claim and even provide you with a compensation estimate over the phone in just a few minutes. Call them using the details above.

What Are The Symptoms Of Misdiagnosed Fractures?

As highlighted above, a fracture injury, such as a fractured arm, can be very painful in and of itself. These symptoms of fractures can include:

  • Swollen limbs
  • The area also becoming very painful and potentially deformed
  • Limited mobility
  • Bruising and tenderness
  • An inability to move or put weight on the injured area.

Misdiagnosis can lead to unnecessarily prolonged symptoms.

There are different types of medical negligence claims you may be able to make. If you’ve been provided with the wrong medication or the wrong dosage of medication, it could negatively impact your quality of life. Therefore, you may want to see if you can seek compensation. If so, contact us today using the above details.

Calculating Compensation For The Misdiagnosis Of A Fracture

There are two potential heads of claim when you’re seeking compensation.

  • The physical and psychological pain, as well as the general decline in your quality of life, can be claimed through general damages.
  • Financial losses can be claimed separately through special damages.

Therefore, just because you receive general damages due to a successful medical negligence claim doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll receive special damages compensation. But to receive special damages you must qualify for general damges.

Regarding the amount of compensation, you could receive may be calculated using the work by the Judicial College. They provide a document that lists an array of injuries and illnesses with reflection brackets amounts using the settlements of past court cases. They analyse previous payouts based on the extent and severity of the injury. Therefore, they’ve built compensation brackets which we use to help provide you with an estimate. We use the same figures in our personal injury claims calculator as we do over the phone.

Below is a list of fracture injuries and their relevant compensation brackets. The Judicial College supplied these figures.

Edit
Area of Injury Amount of Compensation Description
Leg £54,830 to £87,890 Injuries in this bracket include ones that led to permanent mobility problems, causing the need for crutches and ones where multiple fractures have taken years to properly heal.
Leg £27,760 to £39,200 Injuries in this bracket include multiple or complicated fractures or severe crushing injuries to one limb.
Ankle £50,060 to £69,700 This bracket includes cases of a transmalleolar ankle fracture with extensive soft tissue damage causing deformity.
Back £38,780 to £69,730 This bracket is for injuries including disc lesions or disc fractures which can lead to chronic symptoms including personality changes and the risk of arthritis.
Back £7,890 to £12,510 This bracket includes less serious injuries. Recovery takes place without surgery within 2- 5 years.
Arm £39,170 to £59,860 Injuries in this bracket include serious fractures to one or both forearms causing permanent and substantial disablement.
Arm £6,610 to £19,200 Injuries in this bracket include simple forearm fractures.
Hand Up to £36,740 This bracket includes severe finger fractures that can lead to partial amputations causing deformity and reduced mechanical function.
Neck £24,990 to £38,490 Injuries in this bracket include dislocations or fractures causing immediate and severe symptoms that could result in requiring spinal fusion.
Chest Up to £3,950 Injuries in this bracket include fractured ribs or soft tissue injuries causing serious pain and disability that last for only a period of weeks.

We completely understand if you’d like a compensation estimate that specifically relates to your fracture. So we can provide this estimate to you, please give us a call. Our advisors will be more than happy to help you. They’re available 24/7 and have years of experience. They can even put you through to a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor from our panel to begin claims proceedings. Call us today using the phone number above.

What Costs Could Compensation Help Me With?

Special damages relate to the financial losses caused by the injury. You need to be able to prove the value of the special damages you’re claiming for you to potentially receive special damages compensation. Therefore, you’ll need to provide receipts, invoices and bank statements that correlate with the value you’re claiming.

You can claim for losses such as:

  • Loss of earnings
  • Travel costs
  • Medicine/prescription costs
  • Loss of future earnings
  • Care costs, such as the costs of needing a care nurse.
  • Costs of recreational activities that you can no longer commit to.

You may also be wondering what the medical negligence claims time limit is. If you are over the age of 18 and have mental capacity then you must begin your claim within three years of knowing that medical negligence caused avoidable suffering.

Claiming For A Fracture Misdiagnosis With A No Win No Fee Solicitor

If you are eligible to make a medical negligence claim for compensation for the misdiagnosis of a fracture, you might wish to get a legal professional to help you with your case.

One of our solicitors could offer to work on your fracture misdiagnosis claim under a type of No Win No Fee arrangement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). With this type of arrangement in place, your solicitor won’t take any upfront or ongoing fees for their services. They also won’t ask you to pay for the work they have provided on your case should it be unsuccessful.

If your claim does succeed, your solicitor will take a success fee from your compensation payout. This fee is a small, legally limited percentage.

To learn whether you could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim with one of our solicitors, please contact an advisor. They are available by:

Learn More

Use the links below for more useful information about making a claim.

Visit the NHS website to learn more about what to do if you’ve suffered a broken bone.

To see how to treat fractures, view this NHS guidance.

Here are some more guides you may find useful:

To learn more about claiming compensation for the misdiagnosis of a fracture, contact our team using the details above.