A nurse, who was forced to give up the job she loved after she suffered a back injury while trying to lift the leg of a morbidly obese man, has been awarded just over £100,000 in personal injury compensation.
Linda Andrew from Egham in Surrey, who weighs in at just eight stone, had previously told her employers of the difficulty she was having treating her twenty two stone patient.
The treatment involved lifting the man’s legs, which weighed 44 pounds each, in order to apply dressings to his feet. As she was doing this Mrs. Andrews felt a sharp tug in her lower back, the incident aggravated dormant back problems and increasing pain meant she had to give up her job as a community nurse.
Surrey Primary Care Trust was ordered to pay £107,246 in compensation when the High Court decided that the NHS Trust could have done more to help with the lifting, such as sharing the load between two nurses or by providing specialised lifting equipment.
Following the court hearing Mrs. Andrew was said to be ‘relieved and vindicated’ by the decision and now plans to take up a career in counselling.