NHS nurse wins £500,000 payout after sliding off ‘defective’ chair

Eric Nartey, 40, has been given £500,000 in compensation
Champion News

An NHS hospital nurse who was left with chronic back pain after a chair collapsed under him at work has been given £500,000 in compensation.

Eric Nartey, 40, was approaching the end of a night shift at St Bernard’s Hospital in Ealing in March 2013 when he sat down for a rest on a “defective” chair, which suddenly dropped and tipped him on to the floor.

The staff nurse initially appeared to have escaped with a relatively minor injury, but then developed chronic pain which means he cannot work and relies on a wheeled frame to walk.

He was accused by hospital bosses of exaggerating his symptoms, but a civil trial was settled early with a £500,000 payout after Mr Nartey collapsed in the witness box.

As the case broke for lunch and Mr Nartey attempted to rise from his seat, he fell backwards and rolled down a short flight of steps as his legs gave way.

Central London county court heard that at about 6am on March 13, 2013, Mr Nartey was sitting at the nursing station on a hydraulic chair with an adjustable seat when “the seat of the chair suddenly dropped to the lowest setting”, he told the court.

“The chair sort of collapsed. It dropped down. I panicked and tried to grab onto a desk but my hand slid off it and I ended up landing on my sacral area. I slid off the chair halfway down.” Mr Nartey said he was left in “unbearable” agony and went home early from work. He said his symptoms became gradually worse with pain and numbness spreading from his lower back into his legs.

David Callow, for the West London Mental Health NHS Trust, said the organisation admits liability for the injury and accepts Mr Nartey’s account of the accident.

“The chair had a defect which caused it to give way,” he said. “Mr Nartey fell to the floor. Liability is admitted. It is admitted that Mr Nartey likely suffered some loss as a result of the fall.”

Mr Nartey’s barrister, Nicholas Braslavsky QC, said he had been a hard-working man and only took a single day off from his former job as a postman after a car accident.

Judge Heather Baucher, overseeing the civil trial, was told the NHS had agreed a £500,000 payout to settle the compensation claim.

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