Medical Malpractice Malpractice

[Jenelle]

On June 6th 2009 my mother sustained a visible dislocated ankle. After arriving at the Emergency section of the hospital the doctor immediately put her on anesthetics in order for them to relocate the ankle. He then proceeded to relocate the ankle with the assistance of another doctor without first taking an x-ray. After relocating the ankle they immediately placed a 1/2 cast on it and proceeded to get an x-ray done. (After taking the x-ray the doctors notice that the ankle was relocated with a fraction of a centimeter gap between the joint) and she had also sustained a fibula fracture.
The 1/2cast stayed on for 4 weeks and they gave us a letter to go to the Ortopedic section of the hospital on June 30th. On June 30th the half cast was removed and placed in a full cast(full cast stayed on for 6 weeks)-no xray taken. After the 6 weeks the full cast was removed, x-ray taken, and showed that the fraction of a centimeter gap between the ankle joint had widen to approx 1 centimeter wide. They then proceeded to put back on another full cast for another month but this time forcing the ankle inward a bit. After the month the foot was x-rayed again and she was sent for therapy (recommended by the doctor). The therapy was a bit painful for her so she had to stop. She then went back to the doctor who told her that her leg was healed and he is not going to give her any more sick leave for her job and that next time she comes he will give her a fitness certificate for her to commence her job which evolves standing all day. I went back with her 2 weeks later and told him that she has to get sick leave and that they also need to re-evaluate the leg as she still is in a lot of pain. He gave us a slip to come back and do another x-ray 6weeks later. 6 weeks later the head doctor now saw the x-ray and told us that it's not healed and she may have to do surgery to fix it. He gave us another appointment Jan 5th. On Jan 5th we saw another doctor at the same clinic who looked at her records and told us that they will have to fuse the ankle because of un-union of the bone and cannot stipulate a date for surgery but will place her name on a list. He also stated that if the Emergency section sent her to the Ortopedic section the same day of her injury, they would have done the surgery then. He said the fact that Ortopedic clinic saw her a month later they did everything in their power to fix her leg. Also, since the injury her job does not pay her but National Insurance (government) does, however, they only give you approx 1/2 your salary and after 52 weeks they put you in disability benefit which is even less.

Please let me know what legal action can be taken where this is concerned.
Anxiously await your response.

 

[mightymoose]

You are going to have to show that the initial doctors should have done more based on the information they had at the time. Getting an x-ray seems pretty routine. Did they ever give a reason for why they did not take one immediately?

 

[Jenelle]

No, they didn't give a reason why an x-ray was not taken initially. I was under the impression that when a patient comes in with possible fracture/dislocation the first step is to x-ray. I asked the doctor if they were going to do an x-ray and he immediately answered, "it's dislocated". So I'm guessing his rationale for not doing the x-ray was that the dislocation was visible and that there was no need for an x-ray to confirm

 

[mightymoose]

Well there you go- the doctor didn't need an x-ray to diagnose the problem, but did do an x-ray afterward to check the results... which seems reasonable enough. Why do it twice if you only need one?

Had they taken the x-ray sooner, do you think that would have changed the treatment received? Would the result hav ebeen any different?

For whatever reason it did not heal properly. I'm not doctor, but I bet they can provide a list of valid reasons for why this happened.

I understand the frustration with this... but I don't know that there is any legal action that would benefit her.

That's just a personal opinion with no legal reasoning whatsoever.

 

[Jenelle]

Ok:
1. Visible injury upon arrival at emergency on 6th June 09- dislocated ankle
2. Ankle relocated by doctors (patient put to sleep while doctors manually pull ankle back in place) --> x-ray taken --> now dislocated ankle (with fraction of a centimeter gap between joint+ fibula fracture
(Could the fibula fracture be before/ after? we will never no because the x-ray was not taken initially)
3. Doctor at emergency placed leg in a half cast for 4 weeks and gave patient first orthopedic clinic visit for 30th June.
4. Patient visits orthopedic clinic for the first time on 30th June 09 (4weeks after injury)
*x-ray taken and leg still has the fraction of a centimeter gap between the joint
5. Orthopedic clinic placed full cast on leg on 30th June 09 (to remain on for 6weeks)
6. Patient visits orthopedic clinic after the 6weeks --> xray taken-->doctors observed the fraction of a centimeter gap between joint increased to approx 1 centimeter +
7. Orthopedic clinic try closing the gap by now placing the ankle at an angle and back into another full cast for another 4weeks.
8.patient visits orthopedic clinic after 4 weeks --> patient sent home --> appointment given 3weeks later to take xray to see how leg has progressed (3weeks out of cast)
9.patient visits orthopedic clinic after 3weeks -->xray done -->gap showed little to no improvement, fracture show some healing has taken place.
10. doctor sends patient to begin theraphy
11. theraphy to painful for patient so patient re visits doctor
12. doctor told patient that the leg is healed she needs no more sickleave and will be given a fitness clearance certificate to commence work.
13. patient goes back 2weeks later and ask doctor if they can re evaluate the injury.
14. doctor give patient 6week appointment to get xray done.
15. xray done, joint still has gap, fracture shows little to no healing progress and decides that surgery has to be done to fuse the ankle to close gap and fuse ununion of fibula fracture.
16. doctor places patient's name on waiting list to have surgery.
THE END

 

[Jenelle]

more importantly: doctor now saying that if emergency had sent her to orthopedic on the day the injury occured they would have done surgery then and there

 

[mightymoose]

Well it sounds like something you need to sit down and discuss with a local attorney for a good evaluation.
To me it seems to boil down to a question of what the doctor did vs what the doctor could have done... and you will need to show that the doctor SHOULD have done something that wasn't done, or did do something that should not have been done.
It is very unlikely the doctors caused the fibula fracture, if that is what you were suggesting.
It seems pretty clear that the doctors expected the gap to close in the healing process which I believe is normal. For some reason it did not heal properly.
Personally, I don't see anything here which will put the doctors at any fault for anything. Perhaps an attorney that specializes in medical issues will find something.