QUESTION
Can a chiropractor be held responsible for chiropractic stroke?
Asked on Jan 24th, 2018 on Medical Malpractice - Wisconsin
More details to this question:
I know this is a long shot, but I don't know where else to go. I live in wisconsin and my 37 year old wife had a stroke after a cervical manipulation performed by the chiropractor. She is healthy, 5'6" and 145 pounds. She went to the chiropractor feeling dizzy and he manipulated her neck twice telling her she had vertigo. She ended up in the ER. Less than hour after, then to the stroke unit at aurora where she spent 3 days in icu and 3 days in the stroke unit. The dr. Told us she has a dicection and it was from a previous manipulation a couple weeks prior to the stroke. She's home and doing good but has headaches everyday, dizzy, speech issues and her memory isn't the best. This guy twisted my wife's neck so hard that he tore her artery,then two weeks later while she was having a stroke he did it two more times telling her it was vertigo. I'm asking for somebody to please help us make this guy answer for what he has done. Thank you and take care. Michael.
1 ANSWER
4 Awards
First off, I am very sorry to hear about your wife, and at such a young age. Medical Malpractice cases are very difficult to prove and win in Wisconsin. I wrote about the difficulties of pursuing such a case in a blog at our firm's web site under personal injury issues. Further, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did an excellent essay on the subject either in 2015 or 2016. You can google it and read it yourself. The starting point in analyzing whether your wife has a case or not is to secure all of her records from the chiropractor as well as the records from her doctor/ hospital followiing the chiropractic treatment. Once you have those records together, you should have them reviewed by a malpractice attorney. They will hire an independent doctor to review the file to determine if your wife has a viable claim. Remember that the statute of limitations for pursuing a medical malpractice case in Wisconsin is three years from the date of the occurrence. Failure to file a lawsuit within 3 years, would forever bar the claim.
Answered on Jan 25th, 2018 at 6:52 AM
David B. Karp Karp & Iancu, S.C. 933 North Mayfair Road #300 Milwaukee, WI 53226 414 453 0800 dbk@karplawfirm.com www.karplawfirm.com