Fall Claim for Disabled Boy after Accident at Council Care Home leaves him with Severe Fractures
02/06/2010
Fall Claim
The family of a 13-year-old boy has won a settlement for a fall claim after he was left with a severely fractured leg following an accident at a council care home.
Chris Fretwell, from Sheffield, was only 10 years old when he slipped and fell when in the care of a respite home, and the injuries went undetected as he was left unattended for hours after severely fracturing his leg.
Despite suffering from a severely fractured femur, his injuries went unnoticed by care staff at the Mulberry Lodge respite home and were not detected for several hours. Chris's parents were not notified of the accident until the next day.
District Judge Mort said: "The standard of care afforded to Chris fell short of what could reasonably be expected."
Robert Fretwell, Chris's father, explained: "Chris suffers from a non specific dysmorphic syndrome which means he has learning difficulties, developmental delay and an inability to communicate, and because of this he needs constant care.
"Before the accident, Chris had been making great progress and was beginning to be able to walk by himself, but his injuries have been a massive setback and it is like starting again from square one.
"It's appalling to think our son could be left in so much pain without the necessary attention. We would never have let him stay there if we'd known he was being neglected."
After Sheffield City Council denied liability Chris's family contacted specialist lawyers at law firm Irwin Mitchell to make a fall claim on behalf of Chris. Irwin Mitchell managed to successfully secure settlement in Chris’s fall claim in order to cover the costs of the care and rehabilitation that Chris has needed since the accident.
Although the Judge ruled in favour of Chris, Sheffield City Council tried to appeal against the decision on three different occasions, but the appeals were all rejected.
District Judge Mort said: "A reasonable parent of a child with physical and mental disabilities would not have left a child unattended and unsupervised in these circumstances."
Sophie Davies, of law firm Irwin Mitchell, represented the Fretwell family in their fall claim. She said: "Chris was in the care home to provide respite for his parents, yet he was not properly cared for and suffered an accident that was completely avoidable.
"What makes this worse is that all the hard work undertaken by Chris's parents to improve his condition has been wasted. They'll now have to start all over again.
"The level of care in this case was unacceptable, and it's important that lessons are learned to make sure an incident of this nature does not happen again. It is difficult enough for parents with children with disabilities without having to worry about the level of care provided by a respite home."
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