NHS blunder leaves mum unable to open her mouth wider than 2cm for FIVE YEARS
The mum had to live in a diet of bananas and soup after medic left her with a wrecked jaw similar to a 'car crash victim'
A MUM has been awarded a six-figure payout after medics wrenched her jaw open during an op - leaving her unable to open her mouth wider than 2cm for five years.
Amanda Walker was in constant pain after an anaesthetist used excessive force to administer breathing apparatus down her throat and over her mouth.
The 48-year-old had been admitted to Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust Hospital just days before Christmas in December 2010 for a routine but emotional procedure to clear her womb after she devastatingly miscarried twins.
The mum-of-one was left with a dislocated jaw and lived on a diet of soup and bananas and struggled to talk and laugh.
A facial surgeon who discovered what had happened to her during an MRI scan described the injuries as being consistent with a "car crash victim".
Amanda has now been awarded up to £400,000 compensation for the blunder and is speaking out to make sure no one else suffers.
She said: "It turned out that during the operation I had not been given enough anaesthetic so I started to come around mid-procedure.
"In her panic to rectify the situation the anaesthetist used a Laryngeal mask - a medical device that keeps a patient's airway open during anaesthesia or unconsciousness - designed for a 25 stone man, forcing it down my throat.
"I was in pain around my jaw and throat but I thought that must be normal. In the immediate aftermath of the operation I was taking ibuprofen so that masked some of the pain.
"Days later I knew that it wasn't right. I was still in a lot of pain. But at that point I didn't even connect the pain in my jaw with the operation. It was only when I went to see my dentist and I was told the amount of damage that I started to put two and two together.
"I was in total shock to think this could have happened."
Her dentist told her her jaw was misaligned and that damage had been caused to muscles, tendons and ligaments around the jaw.
Amanda, from Knarsborough, North Yorks, who has since split from her husband, then embarked on a five year journey to rectify the problem.
Her treatment began in April 2011 when her jaw was drilled and forcefully flushed out to try and align the joints - but this only worked on her left-hand side.
She had the same procedure in August of that year but again it didn't work, and neither did further surgery to shave away bone on the right side of her jaw, which would only open 20mm.
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Amanda, who used to work in marketing and PR, said: "My diet became very boring. I lost weight as I couldn't chew anything, I lived on a diet of yogurt and juice for breakfast, soup for lunch and mashed potato for dinner.
"The thing I missed most was steak."
The pain meant she never returned to work after being a stay-at-home mum to 11-year-old son Louis for the past five years.
The hospital were refusing to admit liability for the damage caused, saying they had not used excessive force, and that the injuries had happened as a result of a previous undiagnosed condition with her jaw.
But Amanda knew this was not the case and instructed expert medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate.
In May last year Amanda had a partial titanium jaw replacement at Bradford Royal Infirmary, West Yorks but had to go through seven months of recovery hell.
She said: "In that time I got depressed as my face was paralysed, my head was shaved and I was in constant pain.
"That was a very dark time for me. It hit me very hard. I could not look after my son and my mum had to move in with me as I needed round-the-clock care.
"I could not walk or eat. It took me until Christmas before I started to feel well again."
She has still not regained full feeling in her face as her right eyebrow remains paralysed, although doctors are hopeful this will come back in future.
She has a scar which runs from under her left ear right up into her hairline where she had 80 stitches to sew her back up.
She also has to exercise her jaw for 30 minutes every day. She will have to do this for the rest of her life.
However, the procedure does not last forever and it is expected she will have to go through the operation again in the future - something that fills her with dread.
But she was finally happy that it was over when she received a letter from the hospital just a few weeks ago saying they were sorry for what happened to her."
Amanda is now looking forward to the future, adding: "I can now eat and laugh normally and it feels wonderful. I ate a sirloin steak when I finally recovered. It was delicious.
"But I have not had soup since. I don't think I could eat soup ever again."
Ross McWilliams, an expert medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, who represented Amanda, said: "Amanda has had an extremely difficult time over the last five years. She went into the hospital at a very distressing time for her, shortly after a miscarriage, and the last thing she expected following the procedure was to be enduring years of agonising pain in her jaw.
";She is determined that the Trust and staff at the hospital learn from what happened to her. She was left in agonising pain that completely turned her life upside-down and she needed extensive facial surgery to correct the problems she suffered as a result of her dislocated jaw.
"Amanda is aware that there she is likely to need further surgery in the future, which is obviously causing her a great deal of anxiety.
"We are glad that the Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust has finally admitted liability for the injuries Amanda suffered and agreed a settlement with her.
"However, the Trust denied responsibility for what happened to her for four years, which caused a great deal of distress and prolonged the litigation unnecessarily for someone who has been desperate to put this terrible ordeal behind her and begin to get her life back on track."
No disciplinary procedure was ever brought for the anaesthetist responsible for the damage.
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