A mum-of-two who was 'left to suffer for a year' has been awarded £135,000 in damages by a hospital trust.
Antoinette France, who was 64 at the time, said she felt ' depressed and in pain' for a year after medics failed to diagnose her broken thigh bone.
Her condition left her feeling left feeling "trapped and isolated" and she developed a limp as one of her legs was shorter than the other, YorkshireLive reports.
She had pain in both hips and knees as a result of her undiagnosed injury and required counselling to cope with her injury.
Aids and appliances were fitted in her home due to her mobility issues.
The injury began in January 2017, when she fell while out walking her dog and was taken to the accident and emergency department at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.
She underwent a revision hip replacement shortly afterwards and was transferred to The Mid Yorkshire Trust Rehabilitation Unit as an inpatient for physiotherapy.
But she fell again while receiving treatment and fractured her femur.
An ambulance took her back to Pinderfields where only her left knee was x-rayed - not her thigh bone - and she was returned to the rehabilitation unit.
The following month another x-ray was taken, this time of her femur, but it was "negligently reported as showing no change," according to medical experts consulted as part of her claim against the trust.
In March 2017, Antoinette was discharged and told to continue with her physiotherapy at home. When the x-ray was later re-examined, it revealed she had suffered a fracture.
Antoinette said she was forced to rehome her dog after returning home because she could not leave her upstairs flat.
She said: "I used to be a person who went on long walks, but I was left using crutches; even now I can’t walk far and have to use a wheelchair. The way I was treated was disgusting.
"I came out of hospital incredibly depressed, I couldn’t drive, walk or get outside. I was housebound, a burden and felt like an old lady. I was in a very bad place. I felt life was over."
Antoinette said her treatment left her "wanting answers" and she launched a legal case against the trust which was led by Hudgell Solicitors.
She claimed her fracture was left to heal by itself and said she also waited a year before undergoing another hip stem replacement operation at a special orthopaedic department at Sheffield Hospital.
She said: “I wanted to know why I was treated the way I was. I kept telling people I was in pain but it was ignored.
"I felt like I was treated as a stupid person in their 60s. There was a catalogue of errors.
"It was never about the money it was about finding out why and how it happened. I have had an apology from the trust and I have been told they are changing the way they do things.
"Now, I need to move forward and think about the future. I will need a motorised scooter because I still can’t walk far without experiencing pain, and I’ll need an adjustable bed. I just don’t want to be a burden, but I have bounced back - that’s me!"
The mum-of-two was awarded £135,000 by Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust in an out of court settlement.
The trust also launched a 'serious incident review' to find out what went wrong and why.
It admitted "mistakes were made on a number of levels" and that there were "clear lessons to be learnt."
Following an investigation, the trust said it would seek to improve communications between departments and patients' nursing. It added medical and therapy notes would be kept together and eventually be integrated on an electronic system.
David Melia, director of nursing and quality at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We offer our sincere apologies and sympathy to Ms France.
"We appreciate that this has been a very distressing experience for her over a prolonged period. The trust undertook a complaint investigation in 2017 to find out what went wrong.
"We recognised that errors occurred, and the treatment fell below the standard we aim to provide and to which Ms France was entitled. We are truly saddened to hear of the impact this has had on her.
"The trust is committed to providing the best care we can to our patients and making improvements when this falls short. We took on board the learnings from the investigation into Ms France's complaint and introduced changes to our practices."
