Patients who are at the greatest risk of amputation include those who suffer from peripheral vascular disease and diabetes.
Diabetes UK have confirmed that diabetes leads to 169 amputations a week and there has been an increase of 19.4% of lower limb amputations from 2010 – 2013 to 2014 – 2017.
Whilst diabetics are offered an annual foot check to decrease the need for amputations, some patients are let down by the NHS. Medical practitioners can fail to recommend steps that should be taken to avoid the risk of amputation or allow conditions to go untreated. Delay in providing treatment can be particularly devastating. For instance, if a foot ulcer is not properly treated it can lead to infection and ultimately amputation.
Partner of our Clinical Negligence Team, Oliver Thorne, is currently acting for a number of clients who have undergone lower limb amputation due to poor wound management and infection control.
One of those clients, a diabetic, sustained fractures to both heels as a result of falling at work. He suffered chronic infection ultimately leading to a lower leg amputation.
Another client, a young and healthy aspiring athlete, suffered an infection to his ankle after being scratched by brambles.Despite the client attending his local hospital numerous times with deterioration of his condition, the delay in treatment and wound management resulted in septic arthritis leading to his lower leg being amputated.
If you have required amputation and feel that this was due to insufficient wound management and infection control or was caused by delays in your treatment then you may wish to consider making a diabetic amputation clinical negligence claim. In order to bring a compensation claim we will need to prove the following:
- Your treating medical professional has failed to act to the reasonable standard;
- You have undergone an amputation as a direct result of your medical practitioner’s failings;
- But for the failure of your treating medical practitioner, you would not have required the amputation, or the extent of the amputation.
If you feel you may have a claim, do not delay seeking legal advice, as in order to bring a clinical negligence claim, you must do so within three years of the date of injury or three years from your date of knowledge. We work on a No Win, No Fee basis, so you need not let worries about funding legal costs put you off.
