$2.4 Million – Failure to Diagnose Lead to Paralysis

Case settled for $2,400,000.00 prior to trial

The case involves a 39-year-old male, who presented to the hospital with complaints of tightness in his upper back and stomach discomfort.  Although his labs & blood work was abnormal, he was diagnosed with Gastritis. He was released, returned 1 week later, and simply referred for a GI consult. Prior to scheduling his appointment, he became increasingly ill, presented to the ER, and advised them of a 15 lb weight loss, night sweats for 2 months, fever, bloating, and abdominal pain.  He was admitted to rule out pancreatic cancer. A CT scan revealed skeletal metastasis to the thoracic spine at L 5, however, due to a delay in aggressive work up, he was only diagnosed with metastatic lymphoma some  25 days later when he had already developed bilateral lower extremity weakness, paralysis and difficulty urinating. An MRI of the spinal cord now revealed a cervical & thoracic mass, spinal adenopathy with cord compression. The neurosurgeon determined that his disease was now too extensive to treat surgically and he was transferred to a different hospital. Therein he underwent bone marrow biopsy, chemotherapy, and an attempted thoracic laminectomy with excision of the tumor complicated by hemorrhage. He was diagnosed with T Cell lymphoma, underwent steroid treatments and further surgery. He suffered a protracted recovery with wound dehiscence, the formation of bedsores, required chemotherapy, and ultimately acute rehab due to paraplegia.  Our medical experts opined that timely surgery upon first manifestation of lower leg weakness could have spared him from progressive cord compression, paralysis and further spread of disease.

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