Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Michigan

My wife had a spinal fusion of L4-L5-S1 on Aug 11th. Following the surgery, she was doing GREAT! On Aug 26th, she went to get the stitches out at the surgeon's office and he stated the stitches did not hold and the top 2 to 2 1/2 inches of the 7 1/2 inch incision split open. He sewed her up in his office. On September 2nd, she returned to his office and after inspecting the incision, he said it was infected and admitted her right into the hospital. She had a surgery on September 3rd to open up the top 3" of her incision and clean out the infection, and stitching her back up. She remained in the hospital until September 10th receiving antibiotics, which on this day she was discharged. On September 12th, she began having convulsions at home and feeling very strange. After several attempts to contact the surgeon, we were instructed to return to the ER for admittance due to infection again. The ER doctors and nurses stated the incision had become infected and the infection had hit her body, causing the convulsions and strange feelings, the surgeon on the other hand said to us he felt there was no infection but the incision needed to be reopened and restitched because it was not healing. Another surgery was performed on September 13th, a Sunday, in which the entire 7 1/2" incision was reopened, cleaned and treated. She was treated with antibiotics for 4 days, until the surgeon ceased them because of his notion of no infection being present. On September 22nd, at the urging of the family (and supposedly the surgeon), a plastic surgeon inspected the incision and determined it was not healing because there was infection inside of the area still. She is to have another (4th) surgery to open up the incision, irrigate it with antibiotics, and have a vac system which draws out the drainage and infection from the opening. Her incision will remain open until it is determined the infection has been flushed, and a 5th surgery is scheduled to close and stitch the incision once the infection is gone. It appears there will be the need for a 6th incision to skin graph the area because of the amount of cutting that was performed on that area. So it appears surgeries 2 and 3 were wasteful due to the inability to recognize and properly treat an infection, one that the surgeon claims was not present, however, all other professional hospital staff had said there was. To add to this, the PCA pump given to her following her 1st spinal fusion surgery was inoperative and my wife sat for three hours with a broken pump, receiving no form of pain control, having her cries for help fall on deaf ears. She was then put into a room with a female drug addict with a 5" open sore in which she constantly touched it, with hepatitis B and C. There are quite a few more details to this story, which can be discussed later.

My question, is this a case of medical malpractice or neglect on the part of the surgeon? He denied the presence of an infection (which was present) and attempted to stitch her back with the infection trapped inside, causing the wound to not heal. Because of these complications, my wife will overextend her leave of absence which may result in the loss of her job, her short-term disability will run out causing an additional loss in income, and I have had to take an FMLA leave from work, most of which will be unpaid. This has caused Is this a case?


Asked on 9/23/09, 9:15 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Renee Walsh LawRefs Nonprofit

If another physician with similar credentials would testify that the surgeon who treated your wife was negligent, then she has a case. From the facts you have presented, your wife's case seems strong. It appears there may be negligence on the part of the surgeon and the hospital. The hospital could be responsible if they contributed to causing the infection. I represented hospitals and physicians for four years in medical malpractice cases. If you would like me to refer you to one of my formidable opponents (attorneys against whom the hospital lost cases) then please email me directly at [email protected]. Please act quickly as there is a time limit in which you must get started on your case.

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Answered on 9/28/09, 10:22 am


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