a-k

The important thing to know is that the tibia is always fixated with metal plates and rods. The fibula, however, is not always plated and can be left as is, depending on the severity of the fracture. I would assume based on what I've read that the fibular fracture was not severe enough after realigning it to warrant surgery. I would find it very hard to believe that doctors would have initially missed any fractures given it was compound, etc. 

Sometimes the fibula does not heal 100% in the sense that the calcification occurs as normal but the is no unification between the ends of the fracture. The function of the fibula is for muscle attachment and not for weight bearing, so it is normal for doctors to allow loaded activity with it not fully healed (Libor mentions this in the interview). Also, bones only adapt and heal to the stresses they are placed under (Wolff's Law). With that in mind, I think there was a discrepancy between how severe the English doctors thought the fibula break was versus the Italian doctors. The issue could also be that the Italian doctors gave Libor a training protocol based on what I just mentioned, expecting him to progress and for the bone to heal. However, they weren't able to directly follow-up with him under their protocols. The surgery report would have been forwarded to the English doctors so that they knew exactly what was found and what was done. They would have known how the fibula was treated. If the fibula fails to heal as normal there are further procedures that can then be done. From what I can understand from the translation, Libor had a bone graft, which is the unwanted, but normal, next step. It is possible that the English doctors had a viewpoint that was different than the Italians'. This is usual in the medical world. I had a player with the same injury that was cleared for full game play without a fully healed fibula. He of course had pain but didn't have any complications. Another surgeon might not have cleared him.

It would be interesting to see who exactly Libor was sent to in England. Not by name, but by specialty. Surgeons are a quirky type and they don't always like to operate on other surgeon's patients, but I would find it hard to believe that the caliber of surgeon a professional club should be sending their players to would be maltreating patients.