My para son suffered horror injuries fighting for Britain – he was let down by army bosses & shocking hospital errors
THE FAMILY of a soldier gravely injured in Afghanistan have slammed the British Army after shocking errors over his care were revealed.
Paratrooper Ben Parkinson was manning a machinegun turret when his vehicle hit a landmine – leaving him with gruesome injuries.
The then-22-year-old is believed to be the most severely wounded soldier to survive the war in Afghanistan.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Parkinson was found by emergency medics with a broken back, and was bleeding from his eyes, nose, mouth and legs.
Despite miraculously pulling through the ordeal, Ben’s family believe that a lack of proper medical care may have severely hurt his recovery.
While he was able to carry the Olympic torch in London’s 2012 Games, Ben now lives with both legs amputated above the knee and long-lasting brain damage that slurs his speech.
Read More in The Sun
Official documents released by Parkinson’s family have raised questions over the state of the British Army’s medical preparedness.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ben’s mother said: “We were fighting a war without a proper hospital in place with the right equipment.
“We send our sons and daughters to war, and if something bad happens, we expect them to get the very best medical treatment available.
“I think it’s important the public finally know the truth about what happened to him.”
Most read in News
Ben’s life was only saved thanks to the heroics of his quick-thinking colleagues and a team of army medics from Camp Bastion, who rushed to his side despite the area still littered with landmines.
One fearless trauma medic, Corporal Matty Oliver, was able to remarkably get Ben breathing again by cutting open his airway and inserting a tube into his throat.
However, even though an emergency helicopter was on its way, in 2006 they did not carry blood – something Ben now desperately needed.
The paratrooper was reportedly forced to wait over an hour before the Chinook helicopter arrived to save him.
When he eventually made it to the hospital, Ben’s nightmare was not over.
A mistake on his medical notes meant that his service number was mistaken for one belonging to an older engineer, who at the time was safely living back in England.
Although the Ministry of Defence have insisted this confusion made no difference to Ben’s recovery, his family disagree, and have demanded to know more about the fateful hours after the explosion.
A letter from the surgeon who was responsible for Ben’s recovery, written in 2015, laid bare the fatal flaws that may have worsened Ben’s condition.
They said the field hospital at Camp Bastion had only “finite quantities of blood,” and “rudimentary” equipment – issues that may have proved disastrous for the hero soldier.
Even though ben was suffering an apparent skull fracture, they said “the absence of a CT scanner meant that brain injury could not be imaged.”
The lessons they learned from Ben helped to
Diane Dernie
save many other soldiers’ lives… but why couldn’t it have been like that from the start?
The gruesome extent of his injuries was only later revealed by medics, who found that the anti-tank mine had fractured Parkinson’s legs and ripped soft tissue from the bone.
“The blast can strip muscle off the bone but it falls back into place with the overlying skin disguising the extent of the injury,” the surgeon’s letter said.
The paratrooper also had severe internal bleeding to his spleen, and huge soft tissue loss due to the fractures in his legs.
Camp Bastion’s dire medical stockpile meant they were short on the bandages needed to stave off infection, while he also needed to be urgently transported to a different hospital in Kandahar.
When he eventually made it to the next hospital after four hours on the operating table, there was no radiologist or neurosurgeon ready to help.
The radiologist who could read CT scans had finished her tour
of duty weeks before and had already flown home – with no
one to replace her.
The CT scan was instead sent to a radiologist in Canada, where the charts were marked “routine” instead of “urgent”.
While they found issues including shrapnel in his head and numerous facial fractures, he couldn’t receive vital brain surgery as no neurosurgeon was available – which left him with lasting brain damage.
To this day, the lack of preparedness from the British Army is still devastating to Parkinson’s family.
“We were at war and British soldiers were being blown up and shot at,” Diane said.
“Many soldiers had already died. So why didn’t the medical team at Bastion have what they needed? Why were their resources so limited?”
Although Ben has received an MBE for his charity work and is lauded as a hero for his bravery, the army still only pays half of his care – which includes expensive wheelchairs, speech therapy and physiotherapy.
“His care needs should be fully funded,” said his stepfather Andy Dernie, 63.
“We have to fight like hell to get anything for him.”
Labour MP Dan Jarvis, who served as an officer with the Parachute Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, called for ministers
to review the case.
He said: “Ben Parkinson is a hero who’s sacrificed everything for our country. It’s just not right that, having been so badly injured, the MoD don’t cover the full costs of his care.”
An MoD spokesman said: “Lance Bombardier Parkinson made enormous sacrifices for this country and we thank him for his invaluable service.
Read More on The Sun
“We are determined to provide the best possible support to all personnel who have been injured during their service.
“In 2019, we agreed a support package for Lance Bombardier Parkinson to ensure he received comprehensive care as he transitioned to civilian life.”
