Broken Hip? Take Two Aspirin And Don't Call Us In The Morning...

A woman was left in excruciating pain for over a month after the medical services repeatedly failed to detect she had a broken hip.

And by 'failed to detect' we should probably read 'repeatedly ignored request by patient that all this being unable to stand up and walk without pain was a bit odd, don't you think, doctor?'

Lynne Snow claims she dialled 999 after a fall at home, and was attended by a paramedic:

"I said I'd like an ambulance to take me to Whipps Cross but he said they wouldn't give me an X-ray as he didn't think I'd done anything."

Very strange. Usually, a 'better safe than sorry' policy applies, doesn't it?

Mrs Snow found days after the incident she still couldn't walk or sit down properly and decided to call her GP.

But the doctor told her he wouldn't send her for an X-ray until she had been checked over by a physiotherapist who eventually arrived after a two-week delay.

Mrs Snow said: “She came out and was quite rude to me. She said: 'You're walking like a robot. Do you usually walk like that?'. She said I hadn't broken anything. I said to her about an X-ray and she said no.”

So Mrs Snow sought that fabled second opinion:

With the pain growing ever worse by the day, and over a month after her initial fall, Mrs Snow was eventually referred by a separate GP to St Margaret's Hospital, in Epping, for an X-ray. The X-ray confirmed her hip was broken.

Ooopsie!

Still, now they've realised their mistake, I bet they're falling over themselves (pun intended) to put it right and spare any further embarrassment?

Ah, well...

Mrs Snow's painful experience was not quite over yet, however, as she was initially told she would have to wait a further month for an operation.

She has now finally had that operation after a friend drove her to Princess Alexandra Hospital's A&E herself.

And we wonder why the NHS pays out so much money in claims...