£95,000 compensation for damaged urethra which caused life-changing complications
A MAN has been awarded £95,000 in compensation after Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust admitted failing to properly deactivate a medical device before surgery, resulting in permanent injury and long-term complications.
The patient came to us after he suffered significant damage to his urethra during surgery, which has resulted in regular urinary tract infections, bladder spasms and incontinence.
He originally attended hospital for a right femoral popliteal bypass graft, a procedure to improve blood flow in his leg. Prior to surgery, he required the deactivation of an Artificial Urethral Sphincter (AUS), a device previously fitted to manage urinary incontinence following a prostatectomy.
However, medical staff failed to deactivate the AUS before inserting a catheter. This error caused significant damage to his urethra. A subsequent attempt to fit a new AUS failed due to erosion of the original device caused by the improper catheterisation.
As a result, our client now lives with a long-term suprapubic catheter that must be changed every two months. He suffers regular urinary tract infections, bladder spasms, and incontinence, requiring daily use of incontinence pads and long-term antibiotic treatment. He has also undergone multiple invasive procedures, including two urethrotomies, repeated cystoscopies and botulinum toxin injections to manage ongoing bladder complications.
Having instructed our specialist clinical negligence solicitors to investigate the treatment he received, the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust initially admitted liability, acknowledging that the catheter should not have been inserted while the AUS was still active. It accepted that, had proper care been taken, only needed short-term catheterisation would have been required and permanent injury would have been avoided.
The Trust initially offered £30,000 to settle the claim but, after reviewing the Trust’s response, we sought an independent opinion from a Consultant Urological Surgeon, who concluded that the failure to deactivate the AUS was negligent and directly caused the irreversible erosion of the device. He confirmed that, prior to the incident, the AUS was functioning well and could have been replaced if not for the damage caused by the catheter.
Having rejected the initial offer of £30,000 to settle the claim because it was well below the appropriate valuation, a formal Letter of Claim was issued on 5 February 2020, resulting in further admissions from the Trust. After negotiations, a revised offer of £95,000 was made and accepted.
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