Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Tennessee

Permanent Nerve Damage

Early this year I had a discectomy at the L4/5 level. I awoke with numbness and partial loss of function in my lower left leg. The doc sent me home w/o running tests-I went back to his office 2 x's and he would not run further tests.

After 8 weeks I got a second opinion- I was given an MRI and EMG and Doc#2 said my condition was permanent AND disk material was left in the canal. He did a 2nd surgery.

My records from surgery #1 says I told nurses 3 times immediately post procedure that my leg was numb- no nurse informed a doctor. A lawyer had a neurosurgeon review the records. He says the doc deviated from the standard in sending me home without investigating the neurological deficit- but causation could not be proven because it was not known why I have nerve damage, ergo you cant tell if the nerve was choked or cut. The doc said he would have put me back in surgery without question, but couldn't say there was a 51% chance I would have improved unless he knew what happened.

My Attorney seems very competent, but he has decided not to take this case on contingency. He did say that another attorney may see it differently than him, and he suggested I talk to someone else.

There are more facts to this case.

2 Answers from Attorneys

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