Mr Grant (name changed to protect his identity) suffered a significant fall down stone steps some years ago. He was taken to hospital by ambulance as he could not weight bear. An x-ray revealed no bony injury and despite being unable to weight bear he was discharged to a unit to rehabilitate.
Over the next few days significant bruising developed down both legs. Mr Grant returned to his GP who referred him back to the hospital. 17 days after his injury he was finally diagnosed with bilateral patella tendon ruptures. He had surgery to repair the ruptures, but unfortunately this was not carried out to the expected standard.
There was a delay in diagnosis of a significant injury following his fall. It was felt that Mr Grant was making too much of his injury. This left Mr Grant struggling to walk and in considerable pain for three weeks. This impacted on how well he recovered and his future prognosis. Mr Grant has been left unable to enjoy the volunteering that he enjoyed. He would take long walks in the countryside but can no longer manage this. He loves his garden and now has to pay someone to deal with the heavier aspects. His lovely home now causes difficulty due to the stairs and he has no option but to move.
Mr Grant advises that he contacted a few solicitors and none were willing to take on his case until he talked to Patricia Wakeford. Mr Grant was supported throughout his case and is very pleased with the outcome. Multiple expert reports were obtained and the trust did admit liability before the issue of court proceedings. This allowed Patricia to concentrate on obtaining evidence to assess Mr Grant’s needs for life and value his need for therapy, care and support, equipment and accommodation for life.
One of the issues is that Mr Grant needs ground floor accommodation. Due to legal changes the capital cost of accommodation was not technically recoverable although adaptations were. However, after significant negotiations we were able to settle on the basis of a sum that was allowable towards capital accommodation costs.
We have obtained a 7 figure lump sum for Mr Grant that will provide him with security for life. Patricia and Counsel also negotiated damages that will allow Mr Grant to return for more compensation, at any time during his lifetime, if he deteriorates and needs a wheelchair indoors as a result of the negligence.
Mr Grant intends to move to a ground floor property. This will reduce the risk of further falls and the risk of more deterioration due to unsuitable accommodation which has too many steps for Mr Grant to navigate safely.
