Ben Ross considering legal action against Channel Nine after suffered a broken arm during an ill-fated Footy Show segment
FORMER Queensland prop Ben Ross is considering legal action against Channel Nine after he suffered a broken arm during an ill-fated Footy Show segment. WARNING: graphic images.
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FORMER Queensland prop Ben Ross is considering legal action against Channel Nine after describing the ongoing pain from a broken arm suffered during an ill-fated Footy Show segment as “absolute torturous.”
Ross revealed he would now have permanent nerve damage to the right arm and is facing a fourth operation.
The former Dragons, Panthers, Sharks and Rabbitohs forward has outlaid thousands of dollars in medical bills and been forced to employ staff for his own business because he is now unable to lift anything over 10kgs to 20kgs.
He is in constant pain and struggles to surf or swim after snapping his arm on national television in June, 2015. It was vision that recoiled a nation.
Ross, now 37, struggles to lift any equipment for his own company, called Epic Party Hire.
A veteran of six Origin matches, Ross hasn’t yet formally initiated legal action against Nine but believes the network has a responsibility to assist in his ongoing costs.
Ross broke his arm and sustained damage to his elbow, nerves and shoulder during an on-air arm wrestle with fellow NRL star Wendell Sailor that went horribly wrong.
Asked was legal action still a possibility, Ross said: “Definitely, it has to be. If I’m out-of-pocket or my company has been affected in a number of ways, that compensation has to be forthcoming.
“I really don’t want to take legal action against Nine but you’d think they’d have some type of responsibility in compensation, in some way. But I’ve haven’t heard anything.
“I’ve got nothing against Nine and they have had a change of CEO in that time.
“But I’ve got permanent nerve damage in there at the moment. It is a burning, numbing feeling. It will be good one day, the next day it will be absolute torturous.
“They said it will never go back to what it was. I’ll never lift big weights again. I can’t do normal things, like surfing, swimming, those things are a bit of a struggle now.”
Ross said he faced shoulder replacement in coming years but hadn’t yet calculated the overall cost of medical bills.
“I wouldn’t have a clue mate. I haven’t added them up. They are the things you have to contemplate,” he said “I think it has cost me more in paying people to do my work for the party hire.
“It’s more lifting stuff. Anything over 10 to 20 kilograms you start to feel the pain and you pay for it the next day, which is a hard thing.
“I’ve got a party hire company and I can’t lift — I’ve got to pay people to do the job I was doing. It makes it a lot harder to get work done.”
Ross, who also works for the Cronulla Sharks, said surgery now upset his young family.
“They (doctors) want me to go in and get some nerves replaced but I don’t need another operation — I friggin’ over it,” he said. “I have had too many in my time.
“Even the surgeon asked whether I could put up with the pain? There are things I have to weigh up, it’s all a guessing game.
“After my last operation, I said I wouldn’t get another one done on the arm. It affects my kids more than anything else, seeing their dad in hospital constantly getting stuff done, they hate hospitals now.
“I have to get scans to see if the nerves are growing. By rights, it should have been repaired by now and it just hasn’t. It’s more annoying than anything else.
“I have to get an MRI and x-ray on it to find out the final extent. I’m still waiting for the final outcome in rehabilitation. When I went back to my specialist, he couldn’t believe it, it should have done by now.”