Medical Solicitors has recovered £40,000 compensation for a woman whose deep vein thrombosis (DVT) returned after being prescribed an inadequate dosage of anticoagulant medication.
The claimant, C, has been left with chronic venous insufficiency that causes persistent discomfort and swelling in her leg. Medical Solicitors director, Matthew Brown, settled her case out of court in March 2023.
Case summary
In the summer of 2016, C suffered a fall from height that resulted in an L1 spine fracture and three fractures in her right foot. She required a body cast and a weight bearing below knee cast.
While recovering in Rotherham Hospital, C was given daily injections to reduce her risk of developing DVT. However, she wasn’t given any information or advice about preventing thrombosis at home, neither was she provided with compression stockings to wear.
She was discharged home at the end of July once able to take a few steps and was advised to have a bed downstairs due to her poor mobility as a result of the lower back pain and heavy cast.
The following month, C saw her GP with progressively worsening pain. She attended the fracture clinic a week later where she complained of excruciating pain. The leg cast was removed and C insisted on having an ultrasound scan, which detected a DVT. She was prescribed the oral anticoagulant, Rivaroxaban, for four weeks and was advised she would be referred to haematology.
Upon chasing a haematology appointment on the telephone, C was advised that she had had enough medication to clear the DVT and no longer needed a referral. She was advised against flying to Greece on a scheduled holiday but was told that she was safe to travel to Italy via coach.
However, shortly after arriving in Italy, and just a day or so after completing her four-week course of Rivaroxaban, C noticed her ankle, foot and knee were swollen due to a build up of fluid. An Italian pharmacist advised her to wear compression stockings for the rest of her trip, which she did. But the swelling got worse, her calf was very tight, and she had a shooting pain up her right leg that went into her hip, back and arm. She couldn’t bear any weight on her right leg and began to shake uncontrollably.
C was taken to the local hospital where she was prescribed six injections of another anticoagulant, Clexane, to administer daily. On her return home, she went to the A&E department at Rotherham Hospital where it was found she had another DVT in the same leg.
Litigation
C appointed Medical Solicitors to proceed with a medical negligence claim against Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust apologised for giving an inadequate course of anticoagulant medication and admitted that therapy for C’s calf thrombosis was not sufficient. However, they denied liability, asserting that these errors would not have had any physical effect on C’s outcome.
There were also disputes raised by the Trust regarding the haematology referral and C being told she was fit to travel.
The claim settled in March 2023 for £40,000 which included £15,000 in general damages for C’s pain and suffering, plus £25,000 in special damages for her financial losses which included provision for the cost of anti-embolism stockings in the long term.
