Settlement secured for young boy following ankle injury

We settled a claim against Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust following a breakdown in communication leading to the failure to treat our client’s ankle injury.

Our client injured his ankle while playing football when he was eight years old. He attended A&E at Basildon University Hospital with ongoing pain, limping, swelling and tenderness. An X-ray reported no obvious fracture but he was informed that one had been identified and he was treated as if he had fractured his ankle.

Over the next eight months, the hospital’s communication with our client’s family was poor with conflicting information as to whether or not their son’s ankle was fractured. They returned to hospital on several occasions to try to understand his injury and its consequences. An X-ray was carried out nearly a month later which showed an un-united avulsion fracture but, despite this, the X-ray was not acted upon and our client was not called back to the hospital to discuss how to treat the non-healing fracture.

Liability was not admitted by the defendant trust but it accepted our offer to settle the claim and we achieved a good settlement for our client. As our client is a minor, the settlement required approval by the court.

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