Former Organic Historical past Museum manager wins £500k in damages

Leigh said she could not sit or stand and was screaming in agony for 50 minutes even though properly-that means passengers tried to support. Photograph: Richard Gittins/Champion News

An exhibitions manager at the Natural Historical past Museum who had to leave her occupation when she designed submit-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) right after she was trapped on a bus has won £522,379 damages.

Ceri Leigh, 50, claimed that her psychiatric damage was triggered by the delay in an ambulance arriving soon after she dislocated her right kneecap and was unable to move from in between the seats of the bus she had boarded at Wimbledon station, south-west London, on her way residence from operate in November 2008.

Leigh mentioned she could not sit or stand and was screaming in agony for 50 minutes even though well-which means passengers tried to aid and held her down to stop her moving, which added to her feeling of helplessness.

Each additional minute extra to the trauma of her experience until finally she felt “utter despair”, mentioned Mr Justice Globe at London’s higher court on Thursday.

Leigh mentioned she felt trapped, was shaking violently, grew to become unable to hold her mind collectively, remembered “no longer being aware of who she was” and went “into a freeze”.

She did not recover full function in the knee for about 18 months and grew to become housebound, struggling flashbacks, nightmares and a higher level of anxiety and depression. She also began to endure dissociative seizures.

In February 2011, she was medically retired from the work which she loved – managing the design, set up and conservation of specimens at the museum – and monetary pressures drove her and her husband to move to south Wales.

London Ambulance Support NHS Trust admitted there was a negligent delay of 17 minutes in the ambulance arriving but disputed the link with Leigh’s psychiatric difficulties and the volume of damages.

Their lawyers stated that, throughout 2010 and 2011, she had other stresses including issues with marital communications, fear about regardless of whether her husband would be produced redundant, economic difficulties, her son’s trans-gender concerns, her daughter’s concerns about her adoption and the pressures of litigation.

The judge, who witnessed a seizure when Leigh gave proof by video-hyperlink so as to conserve her travelling, explained that the delay manufactured a “materials contribution” to the development of her PTSD.

“There are innumerable variables in the situations that will give rise to the development of this kind of a disorder and in the men and women who are likely to endure it. It is unattainable to predict on any scientific or mathematical basis the minute following which somebody will go on to endure it.”

He said he was satisfied that the seizures have been all component of the PTSD and consequent on it and were not associated to other stresses in her life.

The judge stated he had no hesitation in accepting that Leigh’s damage was serious as all facets of her existence have been badly impacted and additional treatment was anticipated to make only a minimal improvement.

Former Organic Historical past Museum manager wins £500k in damages