Hip Patients Seek Compensation After Agony of Hip Operations

Posted on Jun 30, 2009 
 

Three Huddersfield women are seeking compensation after they suffered "agony", abdominal pain and discomfort after failed hip replacements.  
 
 
The three women, all aged in their early to mid 60s, were under the care of Mr Emmanuel Tolessa at the Nuffield, Hospital in Birkby when they received replacement hip joints which are not even approved by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).  
 
A consultant from Huddersfield Royal Infirmary has said that he would not have used the same treatment and that he uses a much less invasive form of hip surgery.  
 
Jill Turner, a 65 year old from Holmfirth, is one of these women and she was actually forced to cope without a hip joint for three months while she waited for another hip replacement.  
 
She received her new hip joint at the Birkby Nuffield Hospital in June 2005 but started experiencing strong muscular pain within months of the operation and ended up with one leg nearly 3cm longer than the other!  
 
The women's lawyer, Gary Walker from Irwin Mitchell, is now worried that there may be at least 23 more people suffering in this way from having this type of hip joint put in between 2005 and 2006. Mr Walker said:  
 
"We are extremely concerned about the use of this relatively unknown type of medical device and of the treatment and level of care that these individuals received. We will now be looking closely into why our clients suffered such unnecessary pain after what is usually a routine operation and what, if any, checks the NHS carry out when referring NHS patients to private hospitals for surgery."  
 
Mr Walker also commented that all three women were fit and healthy before their hip operations, and instead of increasing their mobility the surgery has worsened their mobility and they now have problems walking and bending down.