Posted on February 14, 2010.
Is this considered malpractice? Worthy of a trial? Firstly, I greatly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this.
My husband joined the Air Force 18. He tore his medial meniscus in his left knee while running on the asphalt in basic training. At age 19 he had his first knee surgery to "fix" the resulting pain. When he was 22, he had 5 (yes, 5) knee surgeries performed by 5 (yes, 5) different surgeons. And the pain is worse today than it was before the first surgery.
We are aware that it will never be without pain after multiple surgeries in arthroscopy. He underwent physical therapy several times by both the VA and civilian sites, without success. He has been dealing with pain management (VA and civilian) and not even a combination of Percocet and morphine can help.
Much research has proven to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that one firm has been botched. It has been said that this was causing nerve damage pain, that does not appear guilty on MRI physics. But pain is the worst in its history was. Honestly, I do not know how he deals with every day. It's at 7 on the pain scale on a good day. And good days are rare.
That said, I realize that's almost impossible to track THAT surgeon made a mistake. The VA says they will cover anything with his knee to 100%, but, surprise, surprise-the VA has lied. We're done trying to work with them. We can not do anything for them. We've been through civilian doctors with our insurance and we pay co-pays and dispensing fees left and right and is breaking the bank for us.
I wonder if we have rights to a malpractice suit. Yes, once again, one of the 5 doctors could be at fault, but here's the kicker:
The first surgeon has performed the surgery without any type of X-rays, MRIs, etc. BEFORE the surgery. He performed the surgery blind and we really want this surgeon is one who has ruined my husband's knee. The surgeon noted that after every tear meniscus had been removed during the first surgery, and then performed a second surgery to try to correct the first. And to start: we learned after the first surgery as the first surgeon had already had 14 (yes, 14) malpractice suit against him.
Thank you for reading my long question really appreciate the advice that may be offered. My husband is 24, too young to be going through this type of pain. We have a daugher 6 months, co-pays and prescription costs (even with insurance) are severely strenuous on our wallets. We are not seeking millions of dollars, just something to offset the money we're shelling we would not have to spend if the operation went right and we did not have to do all these doctors appointments trying to correct.
I am extremely grateful for any advice that can be given.
This can be a difficult case ... First, an arthroscopy is the gold standard by which all other tests are judged and MRI is the closest thing to it. Although I do not agree with PAS MRI before the surgery, arguing that the MRI was not done before surgery may not be the best argument. Certainly, many knee surgeries have been performed before the MRI never come a long ... many of which were successful.
Second, you must prove that the surgeon went outside the standard of care and that was what caused the disability has continued your boyfriend. Every surgery comes with risk ... its certainly possible to have a bad result, even if the standard of care was followed ... hope it was disclosed to your friend. Otherwise, you may have grounds for non-disclosure.
Otherwise, you should ask someone to determine where the standard of care has been broken. In addition, he said.
