Spinal Surgery Claims

What is a Spinal Surgery Claim?

A spinal surgery claim occurs when a patient suffers an injury during or after spinal surgery due to medical negligence and they then claim compensation for the suffering caused. When undergoing spinal surgery, you should feel confident and reassured in the safe hands of your medical team. Unfortunately though, mistakes do happen. This can mean that you are left in a worse physical state following surgery. When spinal surgery goes wrong, our experienced legal team can help you navigate the challenging waters of your recovery. At Patient Claim Line, we are specialists in spinal surgery claims with over 30 years of experience. We understand the complex nature of these difficult legal cases and will guide you through the claims process towards the financial compensation you deserve.

Types of Spinal Surgery Claims

There are many types of spinal injury claims we come across, and they occur for a number of reasons. The information below explains the different types of cases.

Spinal Injuries following a misdiagnosis

• Diagnostic Failure: This includes failure to diagnose and treat a fracture in the neck or back, and can often be due to the injury not being picked up on an x-ray. This means the fracture is left untreated and injury gets worse.
• Lack of monitoring: If your condition is not adequately monitored following surgery, it could lead to deterioration and a worse outcome. This is especially the case if complications occurred during the surgery.

Spinal Surgery

• Substandard Techniques: If your surgery was not performed correctly, you can be left with i worse symptoms than before the surgery
• Anaesthetic: If an anaesthetic was not administered properly during your spinal surgery, or your blood pressure was not monitored throughout the procedure, you could have a claim
• Unnecessary surgery: Sometimes back pain can be misdiagnosed and you end up undergoing a procedure you did not need. This often happens when back pain is misdiagnosed
• Surgery delays: Delays in important surgery can lead to your condition advancing

There are a number of different procedures that fall under the bracket of ‘spinal surgery’. Here’s an overview of common types of spinal surgeries where we can assist if an error was made:

• Spinal fusion surgery: Joining two or more vertebrae to eliminate motion between them, often used to treat conditions like scoliosis
• Laminectomies: Removing a portion of the vertebral bone called the lamina to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves, commonly used for spinal stenosis
• Corpectomy: In this surgery, a portion of the vertebral body is removed to decompress the spinal cord or nerves, usually performed in cases of severe compression
• Discectomies: Removing part or all of a herniated disc to relieve nerve pressure, often performed on patients with sciatica or other nerve compression issues
• Disc replacement surgery: Instead of fusion, this surgery replaces a damaged disc with an artificial one to maintain motion in the spine
• Foraminotomy: This surgery enlarges the foramen, the passageway where a nerve root exits the spinal column, to alleviate pressure on the nerves

Severe Spinal Injuries

• Cauda Equina: This is a rare condition where nerves in the spine become compressed very suddenly. Any negligence in diagnosing or treating it can have devastating consequences.
• Road Traffic Accidents: Spinal injury can occur following serious road traffic accidents. If there is a delay in treating these injuries, outcomes can be much more severe.

Sepsis related injuries

Medical negligence can cause a spinal injury to lead to sepsis, for a number of reasons: :

• Failing to diagnose an infection: Spinal surgery is often completed without issue even when there has been a delay in diagnosis. However, after surgery, infections can develop. If these infections are not diagnosed quickly, the infection can then cover the spinal cord and, in rare cases, cause paralysis.
• Failure to admit to hospital: Again, failure to admit a patient to hospital and administer the correct antibiotics can lead to worsening of the infection or later infections developing after surgery.
• Failure to refer to surgical team: When prompt treatment is needed but there has been a delay in referring to the surgical team, complications can arise as a result of you not having surgery early enough.

Spinal Surgery Negligence

Patients can unfortunately experience spinal surgery negligence at various stages of the journey. This may be during pre-operative checks, during the surgery itself, or whilst under the aftercare team. Here we outline some of the most common incidents of negligence that spinal surgery patients may face. 

During surgery

Spinal surgery negligence can occur in several ways during the procedure itself:

• The surgeon could have made a mistake or used the wrong technique
• The wrong equipment may have been used
• A specialist may not have been present: In complex cases, it can be necessary to have another expert present. If this does not happen the care of the patient could be compromised. 

Post Operative Treatment

Following your operation you should receive adequate care to help with your rehabilitation. Examples of inadequate care following spinal surgery can include:

• Being prescribed the wrong medication or the incorrect dose
• A lack of follow up appointments or reviews
• Negligence in the nursing aftercare such as failing to move you resulting in bed sores.

How Do I Know If I Can Make a Claim?

If you have suffered any of the following medical complications following spinal surgery, you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

• Paralysis (complete or incomplete paralysis)
• Neurological dysfunction, or a worsening of mobility
• Requiring a walking aid and/or wheelchair
• Incontinence
• Sexual dysfunction
• Foot Drop
• Worsening of pain
• Chronic nerve damage

It is important to note that this list is not exhaustive. Complications of spinal surgery often mean that patients are left in a worse physical state than before the surgery, which can be devastating for both them and their family. Our expert legal team can help you find out if you have a claim and get you the support and rehabilitation you need. The best way to find out whether or not you have a spinal surgery claim is by receiving legal advice. Make sure to get in touch with our team of spinal negligence lawyers for a free, no obligation review of your case and we can let you know whether or not you could make a claim for your suffering. 

How much compensation can I get for spinal surgery negligence? 

The final amount of compensation you receive will be decided according to the severity of your injury and the impact it has had on your life. Typically, spinal surgery compensation is awarded for:

• The costs associated with any loss of mobility, such as changes to your home, walking aids or a new car
• Loss of earnings while you recover, or future earnings if you can no longer work
• Physical and emotional therapy
• Medical bills
• Ongoing care costs, including loved ones who have had to stop work to look after you

We can also help you to find additional support from charities and support groups like Aspire and Back Up Trust.

Spinal surgery medical negligence can have very severe consequences and, for this reason compensation figures can reflect this, reaching the millions. Two of our clients received over 1 million pounds of compensation due to failure to diagnose cases of Cauda Equina syndrome.

Why Choose Patient Claim Line

At Patient Claim Line we are experts in the field of medical negligence. We can tell you if you have a case and will then investigate fully to get you the compensation you deserve. We have over 100 medical negligence solicitors based throughout the UK and so offer a local service wherever you are. Additionally, you can trust us with your case as we are rated excellent on TrustPilot and are owned by the UK’s leading law firm, Fletcher’s. We have helped thousands of people just like you claim the compensation they deserve.

No Win No Fee

If you are able to make a claim for spinal surgery compensation, it will go ahead on a No Win No Fee agreement.Whatever the circumstances of your spinal surgery negligence, we won’t need to pay a penny up front while we investigate and pursue your claim.