Lecturer receives clinical negligence payout after hospital misdiagnosis
21 Jul 2010
A former college lecturer has successfully claimed
clinical
negligence compensation from an NHS trust after he was left
paralysed as a result of a misdiagnosis.
Tim Joplin, 58, had begun to suffer from neck and shoulder pain in
March 2003 and went to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley for
treatment, the Express and Star reports.
However, despite repeated complaints that his condition was getting
worse, staff insisted it was probably a pulled muscle and failed to
diagnose him for five days.
When he was eventually transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital
in Birmingham and had a scan, it revealed that Mr Joplin had an
abscess that was pressing on his spine.
By then, it was too late to treat him and the victim was left
paralysed in all four of his limbs.
He decided to take legal action against the Dudley Group of
Hospitals for its failure to diagnose his condition.
Mr Joplin said he had gone "from being a socially skilled
individual and useful member of my family to complete dependency
and in almost constant pain".
After the NHS trust accepted there were "lessons to be learned"
from the incident, Mr Joplin was awarded GBP 825,000 in
compensation.
This follows a recent case in which a woman received a clinical
negligence payout after doctors misdiagnosed her deep vein
thrombosis.
Suzanne Badhams, 34, had a family history of the condition, but was
sent home with painkillers by medics. She later suffered a
pulmonary embolism and now has limited mobility.
