A patient, who was left wheelchair-bound after having a leg amputated when his condition was not correctly diagnosed at Bradford Royal Infirmary, has been awarded damages of £1.5 million.
John Halliday, 59, a health and safety consultant, now requires assistance with all aspects of daily living.
His left leg had to be amputated below the knee in January 2009 – four months after he was admitted to BRI with a swollen and hot left ankle. He was in septic shock, clammy and pale, with renal failure and impaired function of the liver.
Mr Halliday was presumed to be suffering from cellulitis in the ankle and an allergic reaction to medication for gout.
Septic arthritis was not diagnosed until nine days later, by an orthopaedic surgeon at St Luke’s Hospital. Surgical wash outs of his ankle then took place, but by then were not effective in eradicating the infection.
An out-of-court settlement of £1.5 million has now been agreed between Mr Halliday’s lawyers and the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, after it admitted negligence.
Mr Halliday is now confined to a wheelchair and suffers from severe back pain and phantom pain in the missing limb. He has had to move from Clayton to Retford, Nottinghamshire, to be nearer his family.
He said: “I have carers in every day and they have to do most things for me. I can make a cup of tea and a sandwich, but that’s about it nowadays. At first I was very angry, but I’ve had to accept what’s happened and make the best of the hand I’ve been dealt.
“It is a large sum of money, but it will not bring back the life I had before.”
A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are deeply sorry for the distress Mr Halliday has experienced as a result of the care he received at our hospital.”
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