One of the great highlights of my summer holidays has been my son, Callum (9) starting to ride his first ever road bike.
There is a funny story attached to this because Alison (my wife) had said there was no way he was getting a road bike because he aleady had a BMX and he was to use it. Callum only needed one morning alone with Alison to convince her that a road bike was the right option. She found a brand new, children’s bike for £150 on Gumtree.
Since then Callum has rode the bike almost every single day but up to yesterday he has fallen off four times.
There are 100 blogs to write about falling off a bike and getting back on and learning how to do it but the point of this one is a little bit out of left field.
The first time he fell off he was riding behind me on the Embankment in Nottingham where the mixed relay Triathlons will take place on Saturday.
It turns out he was practicing riding with no hands behind me (for when he celebrates winning his stage in the Tour De France) and I just heard a horrible noise of the bike going down. The surface on the Embankment is quite rough, it’s tarmac that is maintained by the council but it is rougher than normal pavement, so he lost a bit of skin on his left side and felt a bit sorry for himself. He rode home and rode the next day.
Yesterday we took the bike riding one stage further and he started on clip in pedals. It was a little bit like teaching him how to ride a bike again but he got it really quickly. He just couldn’t understand the fact that if he clips out the left pedal he is still clipped into the right pedal so if he leans to the right he falls over.
He fell over three times yesterday.
The final time he fell over into a bush beside someone’s house and thought he had broken his ribs (drama queen!) but here is the point to this, because it was crystalised by a conversation with one of my colleagues in implant dentistry on the telephone today.
Surely there must be a claim against the council for the rough surface on the Embankment where Callum first fell over, had that of been a little bit smoother he would of probably lost a little bit less skin and probably would have been a little bit less sore. Perhaps I should contact my lawyer?
The bush that he fell into was slightly over grown, had it not of been over grown he might not of hurt himself quite so badly, perhaps there is a claim against the person who owns that house for not keeping that bush in good order. Surely there must be an option for this? Surely there must be a no win no fee somewhere that I can go to to investigate and to start sending letters to both the council and to that private individual?
This was sparked because my colleague that I spoke to today explained that they had had a case where they had provided treatment for a patient that they thought was appropriate but the patient was concerned that it wasn’t ‘100% perfect’. Ultimately the patient saw advice from a consultant restorative dentist who confirmed that the work was to a high standard but the patient was still not entirely happy. The dentist in question then paid for the work to be re done by another clinician and the patient found this to be unsatisfactory again and then raised a legal claim against the clinician (after they had contacted the GDC only to find out that the GDC doesn’t give out money).
Here is the thing; the defence organisation involved paid the patient £9,000 in a full and final settlement while accepting that the clinician had done no wrong.
So how does this reflect back on Callum falling off his bike? You don’t get money for falling off your bike, you don’t get money from the bike manufacturer for selling you a bike which maybe wobbled a bit too much at the front when you were riding with no hands. 100% perfect is impossible and short of 100% is not negligence and not grounds for an award for compensation.
It is not enough that the medical profession complains about this, it’s now the time for patients who are reasonable and honest to stand up against people who claim for this.
It is time to stop.
Blog post number: 1389