Broken neck misdiagnosed as whiplash
A Scottish man who was erroneously diagnosed with whiplash after a car accident had actually suffered a broken neck according to a new report.
The man, who has not been named, hit a motorway verge at between 40 and 50mph.
After later going into hospital suffering from “excruciating” neck pain, he was sent home with ibuprofen, co-cocodamol and a leaflet for whiplash exercises.
Alice Brown, the Scottish Ombudsman in charge of investigating the affair rebuked the hospital for not ensuring the man received an X-ray.
"The doctor failed to establish that the patient had sustained a serious injury and as a result he suffered pain for the following weeks and it was fortunate that the injury was stable," she said.
The extent of the injury was only discovered several weeks later after the man visited an osteopath who ordered an X-ray. He has since had an operation on his neck and is expected to make a full recovery within a year.
The hospital apologised for the lack of adequate care and made clear that they would do their utmost to ensure a similar incident will not occur again. The Doctor involved, no longer works at the hospital.
Updated on 9/19/2008