Burnham Market woman claims King’s Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital failed to treat her knee injury properly
A woman has accused hospital staff of “ruining her life” by failing to properly treat the injuries she sustained in a freak accident with her dog.
Burnham Market resident Tracy Dixon, 58, was admitted to Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2019 after her “powerful” pet ploughed into her knee while playing in her back garden.
She claims that staff originally sent her home and took eight days to tell her she had broken it following an X-ray – by which time she had already been putting weight on it.
And now, she says she is bordering on becoming disabled due to complications that have arisen from that.
“They have ruined my life. They could have fixed that right at the beginning,” she told the Lynn News.
“I don’t even know what would have been done to help it. My brain is like a 21-year-old, but my body is like 100 and something – and I think that is very wrong.”
The QEH has said it continues to take Ms Dixon’s case “very seriously”.
She was in her back garden with her long-legged Staffy cross four years ago when it collided with her knee, breaking a bone. She claims ambulance staff said the injury was the equivalent of a “sledge hammer” blow.
It took more than a week before she was told not to lean on the affected leg by the QEH, Ms Dixon claims – and only then was she called back in for an MRI scan, highlighting further problems with the joint.
Her carer, Phil Delacey, said that Ms Dixon’s knee is still out of place, and that she feels pain every time she stands up due to it cracking.
She is reportedly taking various painkillers and anti-inflammatories to help, and claims she may need to use a wheelchair before long.
“I used to walk quite a lot. When I came to live here six years ago, I was alright,” Ms Dixon said.
“I have had an awful time. They have ruined the quality of my life.
“I have got a very strong pain threshold. Perhaps they thought it was nothing. It doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do their job properly.”
Pippa Street, chief nurse at The QEH, said: “The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn Foundation Trust has taken the complaint of Ms Dixon very seriously, and continues to do so.
“We are working closely with Ms Dixon to understand her concerns and to ensure we consistently deliver the best quality care to all our patients”.
Mr Delacey insisted that Ms Dixon always wore a knee brace given to her by the QEH after she was instructed to, and only took it off after she was told she would no longer require it.
He also claimed that staff originally told her that her knee was simply swollen, before contacting her eight days later to inform her of the break.
The carer says he was also concerned that no follow-up scans were conducted to determine if any damage had been done to the area behind Ms Dixon’s kneecap.
