Patient Recovers £7,500 In Treatment Of A Fractured Finger

Paddy Mullarkey of this office acted on behalf of a patient who pursued litigation against the Belfast City Hospital Health & Social Services Trust arising out of medical treatment received at that hospital on or about the 24th June 2003 and thereafter. The patient had sustained an injury whilst on holiday in Spain. She returned to Northern Ireland on the 19th June 2003 and attended the A & E Department of the Belfast City Hospital on the 20th June 2003. She was referred to the hand clinic in the Belfast City Hospital on the 24th June 2003 when the finger was splinted. As a consequence of the treatment, the Plaintiff’s finger healed in a position of dorsal and radial displacement as a result of which a hyperextension deformity developed at the metacarpo- phalangeal joint. The finger also developed a compensatory flexion contracture at the proximal inter-phalangeal joint. The patient was obliged to undergo two further operations in order to correct this defect.

This case was listed for hearing on the 1st May 2007 at the High Court of Justice in Belfast. An independent medical expert, on behalf of the Plaintiff, advised that the initial treatment of the injury was incorrect insofar as the Defendant had attempted to treat the condition conservatively by the application of a splint. By the time the true nature of the injury had been appreciated, it was too late to reduce the fracture by operative means. The Belfast City Hospital did not accept the allegations of negligence in the case. The medical experts on behalf of the Defendant contended that the fracture was not amenable to treatment in any event as the fracture involved the articular surface of the bone. The Defendant contended that as a consequence of same, an operation would not have been offered in order to remedy the defect. In the circumstances the Defendant argued that the Plaintiff would have been in the same position as she found herself at the time of hearing. After detailed discussions on the morning of the hearing between Counsel and the medical experts, the case settled for a payment of £7,500. The Plaintiff who was privately funding this action also had her costs met.