Victims of clinical negligence are sometimes reluctant to complain, but they need not suffer in silence and seeking expert legal advice is the first step in obtaining just recompense.

In one case, a man who was in so much pain after a flawed operation that he could not leave his home has been awarded £650,000 in compensation for his unnecessary suffering.

The skilled machine operator was employed by a company that specialised in demolition and dismantling services. He was stricken by back pain after using a vibrating tool to break up concrete in a confined space at work. The source of the problem turned out to be a fistula which required surgery. Serious complications arose following the operation and, despite a number of further surgical interventions, he was left severely disabled, in permanent need of a colostomy bag and unable to work.

Housebound in the days and weeks after the operation, he suffered from constant severe pain and depression. The High Court expressed enormous sympathy for his plight and found that the operation had been negligently performed. In the light of that ruling, the NHS trust responsible for the hospital where he underwent the surgery agreed the amount of his damages award.