Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Negligence Claims Guide

By Cat Wayne. Last Updated 5th April 2023. If you have carpal tunnel syndrome, then you would know how painful it could be. You’ll also know that it could require surgery or medical intervention to treat. However, if you have suffered carpal tunnel syndrome medical negligence, you might still be experiencing issues with pain and loss of movement in the affected area. 

If you have suffered needlessly because of carpal tunnel syndrome surgery negligence, then you may wish to make a carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Negligence

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Negligence

This page aims to answer questions on the condition itself, as well as explain how a personal injury lawyer could assist with a medical negligence claim, whether as a result of private surgery negligence or NHS negligence.

We also take a look at some of the specific information you might need to know to make a claim, such as the personal injury claims time limit, how to prove carpal tunnel is work-related and more. 

Read the below sections to find out all you need to know about making such a claim, and if you’d like more advice, simply call the number at the bottom of the page for free advice from Medical Negligence Assist. The advice we give puts you under no obligation to utilise our service, but we could also help connect you with a medical negligence solicitor with the appropriate experience to assist with a carpal tunnel syndrome personal injury claim.

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A Guide To Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Negligence Compensation Claims

If you visit your doctor for pains in your arm and hand, then you could be diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. While the doctor that diagnoses you could initially advise that you rest the afflicted area, further treatment may be necessary if your symptoms do not dissipate. If this is the case, then you may need surgery. Of course, all surgeries carry some risk, and you should be made aware of such risks before the surgery goes ahead. However, if the surgeon is negligent and you suffer a worsening of the condition or other related problems because of negligence within surgery, then you may find yourself asking ‘Could I claim for carpal tunnel syndrome surgical negligence?’, and if so, ‘What kind of settlements for carpal tunnel syndrome could I look at receiving?’.

If you’re considering making a carpal tunnel syndrome surgery medical negligence claim, then you have landed on a page that could provide actionable advice on pursuing such a path. Below, we take you through answers to pertinent questions about making this type of claim, as well as talking more about carpal tunnel syndrome itself. Some of the questions we answer below include:

  • Is carpal tunnel a work-related injury?
  • Is carpal tunnel a permanent disability?
  • Can you claim for carpal tunnel syndrome?
  • How much compensation do you get for carpal tunnel syndrome?

We also take a look at using a medical negligence lawyer for a carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim, what you should consider when using one, and why the No Win No Fee payments structure might benefit you.

What Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Is

Carpal tunnel syndrome is an upper limb issue that causes pain and dysfunction. If you’re wondering ‘is carpal tunnel a workplace injury?’, then the answer is that it could be, but it could also occur because of other repetitive strain on the area.

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome is the compression of the median nerve, which is located in the forearm. The median nerve, which can be found within a small passageway within the area, is located in the carpal tunnel – hence the name of the condition. This tunnel contains small bones and connective tissues. These run right down the length of your arm and into your hand. The median nerve and the tendons within the tunnel work to allow feeling in the fingers and movement of the fingers too. Should the median nerve be compressed, signals that pass through it to the brain could be disrupted, and this could cause dysfunction of the nerve. This could affect the feeling in the thumb, fingers, hand and arm to be affected, along with the movement.

Check The Symptoms Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

If you’re wondering whether you have carpal tunnel syndrome, you may wish to check your symptoms. We’ve put together a handy list for you below. Please note that symptoms and severity of symptoms could vary between cases, and while most people report that their symptoms are worse in the mornings or the evenings, some report more pain during the day while they are using the affected area.

Common symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome

  • A tingling feeling, often felt in the arm, hand, fingers or thumbs – could be described as pins and needles
  • The hand feeling weak – some people have difficulty gripping between fingers and the thumb
  • Swollen arm, hand, fingers or thumbs
  • Skin changes including dryness, usually seen on the hand in particular
  • Aches and pain in the arm, hand, fingers or thumbs
  • Numb feeling in the arm, hand, fingers or thumbs
  • Less feeling in the arm, hand, fingers or thumbs

How Do I Check If I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

If you suffer the above symptoms, it is recommended that you seek medical advice. Visiting your GP would be a good first step. They would then be able to look at how you could have developed carpal tunnel syndrome. If you’re considering claiming for carpal tunnel syndrome against your employer, your doctor could be able to give you a diagnosis and tell you how the condition is likely to have occurred, which could link the injury to your job.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Causes

Whether you’re considering making a bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome claim, or another form of carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim, you may need to prove how the syndrome was caused in the first place. In fact, there are many different types of cause for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Perhaps one of the most common causes is work-related tasks. This is because some of these tasks could require an employee to repeatedly move the hand and arm in a certain way, or keep them in a similar position for long periods. However, there are causes of carpal tunnel syndrome other than work. These could include:

  • Crushing of the area – If you have suffered a sprain, a fracture, or a crush injury to the site, this could trigger the syndrome
  • Being classed as overweight
  • Wrist injuries – Historical wrist injuries could cause carpal tunnel too
  • Arthritis – If you have arthritis in the wrist, this could cause carpal tunnel
  • Pregnancy – Changes to the hormones in pregnancy could affect the connective tissues within the area. This could cause compression to the median nerve.
  • Other health conditions – Conditions such as an underactive thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes could also cause carpal tunnel

Research that suggests that carpal tunnel could happen within families, so if your direct relatives such as siblings or parents suffer, then you could carry an increased level of risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

Diagnosis And Treatment Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Misdiagnosis and mistreatment of carpal tunnel syndrome could lead to a carpal tunnel syndrome medical negligence claim.

Diagnosis

The process for diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome could be found below:

  1. Your doctor should take a medical history and ask questions about your symptoms. Questions they may ask could include those surrounding when your symptoms first occurred, or whether anything makes the pain better or worse.
  2. They may then ask you to take the Phalen test, where you will usually rest the elbow on a table or similar surface, and flex the wrist. Or, your doctor would hold your wrist. If you experience pain after a minute of holding your arm in this position, then this could point to carpal tunnel syndrome.
  3. A doctor could also perform what’s known as a Tinel test. The doctor could press on the nerve (median) or tap on it. If your fingers tingle, then this could point to carpal tunnel syndrome.
  4. Your doctor could also perform the compression test – this involves stretching the arm out including the elbow, then holding your palm up to the ceiling. The doctor would press on the carpal tunnel to see if you experience any symptoms within the space of 30 seconds. If you do, this could point to carpal tunnel syndrome.
  5. Further tests might not be necessary but could include a test for nerve conduction, as well as an ultrasound.

Treatment

There are a variety of different treatment options for those with carpal tunnel syndrome, and these will likely depend on your pain level and severity of symptoms. Options for treatment could include:

  • Splints – Wrist splints could help hold the wrist straight which could work to reduce pressure on the nerve. You would usually be advised to wear the splints at night, and your symptoms could be monitored by you over the course of around a month to see if the splints are helping to ease the symptoms.
  • Medication – You may be offered NSAIDs (painkillers with anti-inflammatory properties), or you may be offered a steroid injection into the area. However, these could initially make symptoms worse for a day or so before easing the pain. However, it could be that the injections would need to be done annually.
  • Surgery – You may require surgical intervention to reduce the symptoms of the condition. This could be referred to as carpal tunnel release surgery, or decompression.
  • Other options could include acupuncture or physiotherapy.

What Should I Do If I Was Harmed By Negligent Medical Care?

On some occasions, after treatment you have had for carpal tunnel syndrome, your symptoms could become worse. While sometimes this could be unavoidable, in other cases it could be due to carpal tunnel syndrome medical negligence. This could include:

  • The steroid is injected right into the nerve
  • The nerve was not decompressed enough by the surgery

Not only could this lead to further pain and inconvenience for you, but you might also have to have further surgery to correct the issues.

If you believe you were harmed by negligent medical care, whether this is carpal tunnel syndrome surgery medical negligence or negligence in diagnosing and treating your carpal tunnel syndrome, then you may wish to make a carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim.

How Do I Prove I Was Harmed By Medical Negligence?

Medical negligence is a failure to provide a minimum standard of care to a patient. To successfully make a carpal tunnel claim, you would need to present evidence that shows how the hospital or your medical providers had acted negligently and how this harmed you.

This can come in the form of:

  • Your medical records: These could detail the actions the hospital had taken with your injury and show where they had acted negligently
  • Before and after pictures or scans of your injury: That could, in conjunction with a medical report, show the harm that was caused to you
  • Testimony from a medical specialist: A solicitor could help you arrange a medical appointment so an independent medical professional could assess your injuries and provide a report

The evidence you need will be dependent on your specific claim. One of our expert medical negligence solicitors could advise you on what evidence would work best for your case and even help you with requesting or collecting it.

To learn how a solicitor could help you make a carpal tunnel syndrome claim, please reach out to a member of our team. They could potentially put you through to a solicitor and guide you on other matters that could help you successfully claim for carpal tunnel syndrome caused by medical negligence.

Time Limits In Which To Claim Compensation For Negligent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Care

Making a carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim could only be done within the relevant limitation period. Unfortunately, you do not have forever to make a claim. However, if negligence isn’t discovered straight away, you might have longer to claim than you might think. The table below should illustrate this for you. If you aren’t sure which section your claim could fall into, then do not worry, you could easily get in touch with us for advice on this.

Who is claiming?When did you realise negligence?Limitation periodBegins from
YouRight away3 yrsAct of negligence date
YouAfter a time3 yrsDate of discovery
You but on a child's behalfRight away3 yrsAct of negligence date
You but on a child's behalfAfter a time3 yrsDate of discovery
You - for something that happened when a childEither3 yrsYour eighteenth birthday

Carpal Tunnel Claim Payouts

If you are interested in making a carpal tunnel claim, you may be wondering how much you could receive if your claim succeeds. Carpal tunnel compensation could include general damages and special damages.

Below, you can find a table that provides examples of guideline general damages awards. This is the head of claim that addresses the pain and suffering that you go through as a result of your injury. These figures are taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which aids solicitors in valuing claims by providing guideline amounts.

Work-Related Upper Limb Disorders Grading
NotesAward
(a)Persisting disability harming employment£21,910 to £23,130
(b)Persisting but fluctuating symptoms£14,900 to £16,340
(c)Recovery within three years£8,640 to
£10,750
(d)Recovery within weeks or months£2,200 to
£3,530


Carpal Tunnel Claim – What Are Special Damages

Special damages are the head of your compensation that address the financial losses caused by your injury. For example, if you suffer from severe carpal tunnel, then this could affect your ability to type or fulfil your duties if you are an office worker. In this case, any earnings you lose could be recouped under special damages.

Special damages can also cover:

  • Travel costs
  • Medical bills
  • The cost of special equipment, such as an adjusted keyboard
  • Domestic help

To learn more about making a claim for carpal tunnel syndrome, contact our team of advisors today.

No Win No Fee Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Negligence Claim

If you want to make a carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim, but do not have the funds you might think you’d need to retain the services of a lawyer, then you might be relieved to know that you wouldn’t need to make any payment straight away with a No Win No Fee claim. This is because instead of paying your lawyer directly, your lawyer’s fees would be taken out of the compensation settlement, if you’re successful. If you’re worried you would not receive much money after your claim was settled and your lawyer would benefit the most from your claim, we are happy to tell you that there is a government cap on the percentage amount of your settlement that a solicitor is allowed to take.

There are more benefits that come with these types of claims, such as the fact that your financial risk could be significantly reduced. You could also benefit from the knowledge that your lawyer would not risk their own time and effort trying to win compensation for a case that was not strong enough to warrant it. In addition, their income would be affected by the amount of carpal tunnel syndrome medical negligence compensation you receive, so naturally, they would try to get you as much as possible for your claim.

How To Make A Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Negligence Claim

In order to make a carpal tunnel syndrome medical negligence claim, we would advise you to use the services of an experienced medical negligence lawyer. Here at Medical Negligence Assist, we could help with this. We work with a panel of quality solicitors operating around the UK with experience in working on medical negligence claims. As well as providing you with advice on making a carpal tunnel syndrome medical negligence claim, we could connect you with someone with the knowledge and experience to fight your claim for compensation on your behalf. We’re available any time to speak to and we can be reached on 0800 652 3087.

Of course, you might not be ready yet to start a claim, and we could still help you by providing advice you can trust. You do not have to use our service to benefit from our free advice. We want you to feel informed about all your options.

There’s never a bad time to get in touch with us. Why not call today to get a clear picture on whether you could have a carpal tunnel syndrome negligence claim, or to be provided with a solicitor who could help you get that all-important payout.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Medical Resources

Below are some links to further reading material you might find useful when making a claim.

NHS Carpal Tunnel – See here for the NHS’s carpal tunnel guide. It offers information on treatment options and more.

NHS Treating Carpal Tunnel – Here we see some actionable advice on treatment for the pins and needles you might experience with carpal tunnel syndrome.

HSE information on carpal tunnel – This talks about reporting carpal tunnel that happens in work.

Below, you can find links to all of our medical negligence claims guides:

 

Guide by Jo

Edited by Ed