The family of a man who broke his neck in a fall have issued a complaint to a hospital after it sent him home without diagnosing the injury.

Gary Green, a labourer, was taken to Ipswich Hospital after working on the second floor of a building and falling off his ladder, landing on his head. At hospital he had X-rays and a CT scan before being sent home with doctors still unaware that he had broken two bones in his spine. He was still in excruciating pain for two days at home before going back to hospital on the advice of a physiotherapist. This time an MRI scan established that he had suffered a severe neck injury. He received emergency surgery and is currently recovering in hospital.

However, his family are demanding answers over how the hospital failed to spot the injuries in the first place. The hospital has said that it will investigate how the mistake occurred. A spokesperson said that all patients deserve the best standards of care and that the hospital was looking at all aspects of Mr Green's care to fully understand the issues involved.

The experiences of Gary Green follow on from the case of Gary Rickard who was sent home from hospital in Coventry after being told that he had suffered whiplash in a car crash when, on further examinations, he too was found to have a broken neck. He was left at home for almost five months after being discharged and when the error was eventually spotted, Mr Rickard needed three operations to fix his neck and he still, three years on, has limited use in his right hand and has been unable to return to work.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2052895/Father-sent-home-hospital-broken-NECK-falling-storeys-ladder-landing-head.html