Medical Malpractice - Misdiagnosis In The Emergency Room

As the following case demonstrates, hospital emergency rooms can commit medical malpractice by misdiagnosis of an injury, by failure to provide proper supervision of staff members, and by a combination of the two.

A young man broke his arm while working in a brickyard. He went to an emergency room in a municipal hospital in New York. The emergency room doctor told him he had a fracture and they would set the fracture and put a cast on. The cast would remain on for 6 weeks. He was told to follow up every few weeks to make sure the broken bone was healing properly.

This young man returned to the orthopedic clinic, as instructed, and each time he went, x-rays were taken. After x-rays were taken, the orthopedic resident reassured him that everything was healing properly. Six weeks after the initial injury, the patient had his cast removed. He was shocked at what he saw. His arm looked like a roller coaster. It was straight, then went up, curved, then went down and flat again. He asked the doctor whether this was normal. The physician told him that with physical therapy this would go away.

My client was not an educated man, yet he knew that no amount of physical therapy would make his bone go back into the correct position. He decided to seek another opinion of an orthopedist near his home. After additional x-rays and evaluation of the the original emergency room x-rays, this board-certified orthopedist concluded that this young man needed surgery to re-break the bone since it did not heal in the correct position. He would need a titanium plate, screws and pins to hold the newly broken bones together. This is known as an osteotomy (breaking the bone) and an open reduction with internal fixation. He would need to be put to sleep with general anesthesia and have a recuperation period of 6-8 weeks again.

This young man learned that his broken bone was never set properly. Had it been properly set when he was in the emergency room, he'd never have needed this additional surgery and wouldn't have to have his bone re-broken and then put back together with plates, pins and screws.

During this lawsuit, I had a chance to question the "Doctor" who treated my client in the emergency room. It turns out that this "doctor" was not a doctor at all. In fact, he was just a physician's assistant who was supposed to be supervised by the attending emergency room physician. Unfortunately for my client, this physician's assistant never asked his supervising physician to review the emergency room x-ray before or after he had set the bone to make sure it was done correctly. Even more amazing was that none of the orthopedic residents who evaluated this patient in the orthopedic clinic recognized that the x-ray was clearly abnormal and that the bone would not heal in the correct position.

Had the physician's assistant shown the original x-rays to his supervisor, in all likelihood, the supervising doctor would have recognized that the arm was not set correctly and would have re-set it again before casting the arm and sending the patient home.

This injury was totally preventable, and the attorney who represented the hospital recognized that fact during the litigation. I am pleased to report that this case was successfully resolved shortly before trial.

Gerry Oginski is an experienced medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney practicing law in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, New York, Staten Island, Long Island, Nassau & Suffolk. He has tirelessly represented injured victims in all types of medical malpractice, wrongful death and injury cases since 1988. As a solo practitioner he is able to devote 100% of his time to each individual client. A client is never a file number in his office.

Take a look at Gerry's website http://www.oginski-law.com and read his free special reports on malpractice and accident law. Read actual testimony of real doctors in medical malpractice cases. Learn answers to your legal questions. We have over 200 FAQs to the most interesting legal questions. Read about his success stories. Read the latest injury and malpractice news. I guarantee there's something for you. For more information, call him personally at 516-487-8207.

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The above is general information only and may or may not be applicable to your situation. If you have any questions whatsoever, talk with a medical malpractice lawyer licensed in your state.

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