Pierce’s Story: Medics failed to identify teen’s ankle fracture

Health professionals failed to identify a fracture in 15-year-old Pierce’s right ankle, causing him unnecessary pain for more than a fortnight. With our legal support, he has now settled his medical negligence claim for misdiagnosis against the defendant trust. 

Timeline of events

Spring 2019

While out jogging, Pierce sustained an inversion injury to his right ankle. He immediately had some swelling and struggled to put weight bear for a few days afterwards. However, he did not seek any health care advice initially. 

Just over a week later, Pierce attended the defendant trust’s urgent treatment centre, where an X-ray was performed. Despite the X-ray recording a fracture, Pierce was discharged with only a sprained ankle. 

After noticing the fracture on Pierce’s X-ray results, his GP contacted him to arrange a follow-up appointment at the fracture clinic. An MRI scan was carried out, which confirmed Pierce had damaged cartilage and bone in his ankle and a fracture due to previous multiple sprains dating back to 2012. 

The following month, Pierce was seen by an orthopaedic surgeon who referred him for urgent keyhole ankle surgery to remove the damaged cartilage and bone. After a successful operation, Pierce started physiotherapy. 

How Lime Solicitors helped Pierce’s case

Pierce approached us with his claim as he was concerned with the delay in his diagnosis and subsequent treatment. We issued a letter of claim, which was drafted in line with the supportive expert evidence we received, and took steps to quantify the case. An out-of-court settlement was secured. 

A note from Natalizia 

“A timely diagnosis is essential to ensuring people who have suffered a fracture have the best chance of pain reduction and correct alignment of the fracture to assist the healing process. 

“There was a failure to identify Pierce’s ankle fracture, which was readily visible on the X-ray he had when he originally attended the urgent treatment centre. The failure to correctly interpret the X-ray led to a delay in referring Pierce to the fracture clinic. 

“As a result of the above failure, Pierce suffered for 16 days with additional and avoidable pain as he was being encouraged to mobilise and weight bear where possible, which is contrary to the advice for a fracture.” 

Contact our medical negligence solicitors  

Our specialist team of medical negligence solicitors has experience supporting people who have suffered as a result of a missed fracture. If you would like to discuss making a claim, please call us on 0808 164 0808 or request a call back and we will call you.