Missed diagnosis in A&E

A patient attends their local A&E department, let us say with a painful and swollen ankle following a fall. It is diagnosed as a sprain and the patient is discharged. However, the pain continues and they go back 10 days later when an x-ray reveals a fracture. It is likely to be a breach of duty by A&E in failing to do an x-ray the first time. Whether this gives rise to a claim is doubtful, as the 10-day delay may not make very much difference to the treatment or the outcome, but, if it did, you may be eligible for compensation for missed fractures. See Do I Have a Claim?

In other cases, it may be that an x-ray has been taken but that when the x-ray has been examined the break or fracture has been missed by the A&E doctor.

We expect broken bones to be diagnosed and treated when we visit A&E. However, missed fractures are not uncommon, leading to unnecessarily prolonged pain and sometimes further complications.

Our experienced team of solicitors can help you with compensation for missed fractures, while making the claims process as simple as possible.