The Plaintiff in this case fell and injured his left wrist whilst playing football in May 2017. The following day, he attended a Dublin Clinic complaining of pain. An x-ray reported that no fracture was seen at this time and the Plaintiff was discharged.
The Plaintiff continued to experience pain in his left wrist and accordingly, a further x-ray was carried out in a local Hospital the following month with same showing an undisplaced fracture through the waist of scaphoid, consistent with injury 7 weeks previously.
The Plaintiff was subsequently advised by a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, that because of the delay in receiving treatment, the fracture to his left wrist would not heal without surgery and accordingly, he underwent a percutaneous screw fixation of his left wrist in July 2017.
Clare Flavin, Solicitor specialising in medical negligence, investigated the standard of care afforded to the Plaintiff and obtained reports from relevant experts who confirmed that it is well recognised that radiographs in the early days following an injury frequently do not demonstrate a fracture of the scaphoid as it can take time for bone resorption around the fracture line to occur and for the fracture to become visible on a film. Furthermore, standard clinical practice for patients with a wrist injury where there is the possibility of a scaphoid fracture is to be re-examined at 10 to 14 days and if clinical suspicion of a scaphoid fracture remains then further imaging is performed. In all of the circumstances, the Plaintiff’s experts were of the view that even in the presence of normal x-rays, the Plaintiff’s wrist should have been immobilised in a splint and if this had occurred at the time of his initial presentation, it is likely that the fracture would have united within 6-8 weeks with no need for further surgery.
If you require further information, please contact Clare Flavin, specialist in medical negligence, on 019123240 or clare.flavin@listonflavin.ie.