Family considers legal action after doctors fail to spot broken spine

A family has revealed it is considering taking legal action after doctors failed to spot that their grandfather had a broken spine.

Retired pastry chef Neville Caplan slipped on stairs at his home in Hale and was taken by ambulance to Wythenshawe Hospital, which is run by the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust.

The 70-year-old was subsequently diagnosed with mild pneumonia, broken ribs and a sprained ankle, the Manchester Evening News reports.

According to the publication, two doctors failed to spot that he had broken his back or ask about a long-term condition which made the pensioner vulnerable to back problems.

He was sent home but experienced increasing pain and was eventually admitted to North Manchester General Hospital, where doctors again failed to spot his condition.

Two weeks later, however, the hospital did scans which revealed the break but he was too ill to undergo life-saving surgery and he died in December 2004 three weeks after he had sustained the injury.

10/11/2008 15:54