Plumber wins £500,000 in damages from NHS Lothian over football injury

Darren Conquer was playing in goal on July 30 in 2003 when he was hurt saving a shot that led to a protracted legal action against Lothian Health Board.

In a damages claim against the health authority he sued over negligent diagnosis and treatment of the injury he sustained.

He felt pain and later attended Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and subsequently underwent operations in 2004 and 2009 over an injury to his right biceps tendon.

The health board admitted it was liable to make reparation to Mr Conquer as a result of a failure to perform an ultrasound on his right upper arm by September 3 in 2003.

It conceded that if such a scan had been performed it would most likely have revealed a biceps tendon rupture and surgical repair of the injury would have taken place within days.

Damages awarded

Following the admission of liability a hearing on the level of damages to be awarded took place before Lady Carmichael at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

The judge ruled that he was entitled to a total of £542,397, including sums for future financial loss and pain and suffering. It includes £180,000 already received as payments of interim damages.

Lady Carmichael said: "Mr Conquer suffered an unrelated but identical injury to his left arm, which was promptly diagnosed and treated."

"His own evidence was that he made an excellent recovery from that injury and had fully recovered within six months."

"In this case therefore there is, unusually, the opportunity to compare outcomes in relation to the same injury, in the same individual, one treated promptly, and the other not," said the judge.

She said: "I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities, that had surgical repair of the pursuer's right distal biceps tendon rupture been undertaken within a few days of September 3 2003, the result would have been a full or near full recovery of function in the right arm such as to permit the pursuer to return to work with six months."

She said: "I am satisfied also that the pursuer has clinically significant anxiety and depression of which the principle cause is the circumstances that he has not regained function in his right upper limb, with the associated and prolonged pain and discomfort, and inability to pursue his career in the way that he otherwise would have done."

History of hard work

Lady Carmichael said she accepted that Mr Conquer, 47, was "a well-motivated individual with a history of having worked hard, and of having engaged in entrepreneurial activity".

She said: "The pursuer is unfit for the work for which he was trained, and for other forms of employment, such as kitchen and bathroom design, which he could otherwise reasonably have hoped to obtain."

Mr Conquer said that he was keen to be a plumber from an early age and wanted to work "on the tools". He had worked in businesses in the Edinburgh area and previously played football, golf and snooker.

He had tried to return to football but was afraid of falling, the court heard.

In an earlier judgement in the legal action, before the admission of liability, Lord Boyd said in 2014: "The pursuer's case is relatively straight forward."

"Two doctors either recommended or directed that an ultrasound should be carried out. If an ultrasound had been carried out then it would have revealed the tear in the distal biceps tendon."

"Had that been diagnosed then it could have been repaired within the timescale of four to six weeks and there would have been a good chance of full restoration of function," he said.

In the pleadings in his action Mr Conquer had said that after the save he felt pain in his biceps muscle and round the elbow. His arm went into spasm and the fist "clawed".