Level access accommodation secured for client with complex leg fracture
On 1 May 2015 my client suffered multiple severe injuries when the driver of the car she was traveling in collided with another car and then a tree at speed.
My client was airlifted to hospital. She lost consciousness on the way but remembers events. She suffered head, chest, left arm and pelvic trauma. Perhaps her most debilitating injury was an open fracture of her left leg.
The pelvic and arm injuries were treated with external fixation. My client has gone on to achieve a relatively good recovery from these.
The left leg has required several surgeries to date. The tibia was stabilised with an intramedullary nail before complex surgery where muscle was harvested from the right leg to cover significant skin defects over the left shin. The intramedullary nail was later removed in favour of a circular external fixator which remains in place.
The date for the removal of the fixator remains unknown. As a consequence of the several surgeries to date, my client finds herself with a 6cm leg length discrepancy and very little strength or function in the limb. She relies on a wheelchair and walking aids indoors. Outdoors she needs to be accompanied.
At the time of the accident my client was travelling to London to start a new job as a chef. Without accommodation she was forced, upon discharge from hospital, to move in with her elderly mother who has a ground floor flat. Without professional support the situation became intolerable and was hindering the progress of her rehabilitation.
Interim funding from the driver’s insurers helped to ensure that a good case manager could be appointed and a care regime put in place. Provision of private physiotherapy and hydrotherapy has helped give my client the best chance of recovery following removal of the external fixator. Perhaps most importantly, my client now benefits from the use of her own rented accommodation which is level access throughout, close to local amenities and large enough to store her mobility equipment including her hired motorised wheelchair for outdoor use.
The future and long term prognosis remains uncertain for my client at this point in time but the interim funds paid in the meantime, and importantly the structured use of those funds to achieve maximum benefit, has helped her greatly in her continuing recovery.
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