Natalie Witherington, 42, was left ‘terrified’ after the vaccination at a surgery caused severe shoulder damage, though the healthcare provider denied liabilityJade McElwee Content Editor and SWNSCharlieFenton (Charlie Fenton)
00:23, 06 Dec 2025
Natalie Witherington (Image: SWNS)
A mother has been left “terrified” after a routine injection went awry, causing such severe damage to her shoulder that doctors believed she “had been in a car accident”. Natalie Witherington visited Lawrence House Surgery in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, for a straightforward pneumonia vaccination on September 22 when the incident occurred.
The mother-of-two claims that the jab was administered into the “wrong part” of her left shoulder, resulting in “excruciating pain” following what should have been a simple procedure. She says that upon examining her shoulder, doctors compared the level of damage to that typically seen in car crash victims.
Natalie, from Scarborough, was subsequently rushed to Scarborough General Hospital’s A&E department, where she underwent emergency surgery to cleanse the joint. Doctors later diagnosed the 42-year-old with hemarthrosis – bleeding into the joint space – which they believe likely developed as a result of the injection.
Now, Natalie fears her arm will never be the “same again”. She said: “I’ve had to put up with a lot in life, but this has been a nightmare, and it’s left me terrified to have any kind of injection.
“I had physio for three months, but I’m in continual pain and still can’t move my arm properly – I don’t think it will ever be the same again.
“I’d given the nurse full access to my shoulder, but she came up behind me and appeared out of nowhere to give me the injection.
“I’ve had loads of injections, but this one felt different. It felt like it had gone through the bone and brought tears to my eyes.
“The excruciating pain just didn’t seem to die down and kept getting worse to the point of me climbing the walls with pain. I rang the doctor, who said he’d never seen anything like this before in his life.
“And when I was in hospital, a consultant said that for a woman of my age, he’d never seen so much damage to a shoulder unless they’d been in a bad car accident.”
Natalie Witherington injection
Natalie Witherington injection
Natalie spent 11 days in hospital recovering from the injury. Hudgell Solicitors revealed that Haxby Group, the healthcare organisation overseeing Lawrence House Surgery, completely rejected any responsibility but nevertheless reached an out-of-court settlement of £35,000.
The legal firm secured medical testimony from a nursing expert who determined there had been a breach of duty “not to correctly identify the site and administer the injection”.
Natalie, who lives with multiple medical conditions including Crohn’s disease, expressed her frustration: “What annoyed me more than anything else is that they kept saying they didn’t do anything wrong and that it didn’t happen.
“I know all medical staff are under so much pressure and I would have been quite happy to just to crack on and forget about it.
“All it would have taken was an acceptance they were at fault, but it never came and that’s when I got the help of Hudgells and Kirsty, who was amazing from day one and gave me the courage to stand up for myself.
“I didn’t think we had a hope, and I was shell-shocked with the settlement. But it was a bit of Catch-22 situation as all I was fighting for was an acceptance of blame that the injection was misplaced.
“I’ve never received that – and I probably never will.”
A spokesperson for Haxby Group Scarborough stated: “We do not comment on the detail of cases involving individual patients or those managed by the NHS Resolution service (following a claim being made against the practice).
“We are grateful to all patients who share their experiences with us and always strive to provide the best possible care to our communities.”
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