A female, who was released from hospital just eight hours after being admitted with a broken pelvis, has won a High Court hearing and been awarded with 35,000 pounds in early hospital discharge compensation.
Lydia Eaton (102) from Wigmore, Kent, sued the Medway NHS Trust through her daughter after she was unable to walk independently following the events of March 2007. Lydia, who had broken her pelvis in a fall near her home, was taken to the A&E Department of Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham but discharged after just eight hours and given with a prescription for painkillers.
Lydia´s physical condition deteriorated after she returned home and, as her mobility decreased, started to develop sores and ulcers. Her family, it was claimed at London´s High Court, were given no instruction on how to deal with Lydia´s condition or support from the hospital, and the following month Lydia was moved into a nursing home.
Judge Sweeney at the High Court heard solicitors on behalf of Lydia contend that Lydia would still be living independently and able to walk had it not been for the negligence of doctors at the Medway Maritime Hospital and they advised the judge that, since the claim for early hospital discharge compensation had been filed, Lydia had been forced to move into another – more expensive – nursing home where a higher level of care could be provided.
Finding in favour of Lydia, Judge Sweeney agreed that the hospital had been negligent in prematurely releasing Lydia from hospital – a situation which had directly resulted in the deterioration of her condition. The judge made the award of 35,000 pounds in early hospital discharge compensation to Lydia and ordered that it be placed in a trust fund to pay for Lydia´s care.
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