QUESTION
Can I sue emergency staff for their negligence which resulted to my having surgery twice for the same ruptured disc?
Asked on Oct 24th, 2013 on Personal Injury - Indiana
More details to this question:
I had a surgery for a ruptured disc on August 7, 2013. After two days, because of severe constipation due to anesthesia, I was rushed to emergency. The emergency staff at the hospital were very rough. Even after informing them of the recent surgery, they pulled me from my bed so roughly to the CT Scan table that I was so badly hurt at the same place where there was a big bump and stitches due to surgery that I nearly fainted. Since then, I am in severe pain and my doctor placed an order for a second MRI which showed that my same disc is moved. My surgeon had to immediately redo the surgery on the same ruptured disc on October 18, 2013. That is just month and a half after the first surgery. I suffered a lot of pain due to the negligence of the emergency staff, and still suffering with pain due to second surgery. My wife and I cannot work. Having heavy financial loss, can I sue the emergency, or what remedy do I have? Your expert advise will really be helpful.
7 ANSWERS
It sounds like you have a good case, assuming you can prove all of your allegations.
Answered on Nov 19th, 2013 at 6:18 PM
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorney serving Syracuse, NY
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Andrew T. Velonis, P.C.
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Medical malpractice cases are always difficult, expensive and time consuming. You will have to be able to prove a failure to conform to accepted practice, and resulting injury as well. Expert witness testimony is required for that reason. You might try this: file a complaint with your state's department of health. They will investigate. It will take a while, but keep in touch with the investigator. When the investigation is complete, file a Freedom of Information Act request to get the file. Then take that to a lawyer. Seems to me that with rough handling making repeat surgery necessary, you should have something to go on.
Answered on Oct 24th, 2013 at 1:02 PM
Ronald A. Steinberg
If you can get a doctor to testify that they "deviated from the standard of practice in the same or similar communities," then you can sue.
Answered on Oct 24th, 2013 at 12:25 PM
Personal Injury Attorney serving Charlotte, NC
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Paul Whitfield and Associates P.A.
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Sorry for your pain but you have not described a malpractice situation. A case does not become one because you call it so. You will need to get a medical doctor to review all the medical records and give you an opinion. I doubt you have anything but pain and bad memories.
Answered on Oct 24th, 2013 at 10:49 AM
James Eugene Hasser
It will take the opinion of a medical expert to get into court. Medical malpractice lawyers typically have such experts available. Consider consulting one.
Answered on Oct 24th, 2013 at 10:37 AM
1 Award
Did your surgeon or anesthesiologist prescribe stool softeners to counteract the effects of the narcotic pain medicines that were prescribed? I think a case against the emergency department personnel would be very difficult to prove. How can you prove to a jury that the people in the emergency department handled you too roughly? Medical malpractice cases are always very difficult to win. I think a case against the emergency department people would be tough. It might be worth your while to hire a lawyer who represents people in medical malpractice cases to have a spine surgeon look at the preoperative and postoperative imaging of your spine to determine whether the surgery was properly performed. It is somewhat unusual to have to re-do a spine surgery that soon after the original surgery. The statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases in Wisconsin is three years from the date of injury.
Answered on Oct 24th, 2013 at 10:03 AM
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If your surgeon has stated or better yet made a notation in the medical records that the second surgery was due to the ER staff, yes, you may have a case.
Answered on Oct 24th, 2013 at 9:42 AM