Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a medical malpractice case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court. It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco General, California Pacific Medical Center, or St. Francis Memorial Hospital.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury case and its proceedings.)
Serri claimed that on April 25 he heard a pop while buttoning his shirt and that over the next two days some swelling and redness developed in his right hand. Serri claimed that he called Stevens’s office on April 28 and advised one of the staff about the swelling and redness. Serri claimed that he received a return call later that day in which he was told that Stevens had indicated that redness and swelling were normal and not to worry about them, and that Serri did not need to be seen.
Serri testified that by May 15 the redness and swelling had disappeared, but returned and became progressively worse each day after using his hand on a job starting May 17. Although he testified that his finger had become extremely swollen and that he was progressively unable to bend it, Serri continued to work until May 25 and did not report these problems to his employer or any doctor. Serri testified that a couple of days before May 25 the finger was in a fully extended position and that he could not bend it at all. Serri testified that he decided to wait until May 25 to report the problem because he had an approved workers’ compensation appointment scheduled on that date for his left hand. On May 25, Stevens evaluated the finger and clinically diagnosed probable rupture of both flexor tendons. Stevens also received a history from Serri indicating that three weeks before the visit Serri had been lifting heavy steel plates at work and that bruising of the finger had developed during this time. Stevens scheduled an urgent MRI for May 26 in anticipation of reconstructive surgery.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
In May, Serri returned to Stevens’s office to discuss the MRI findings, which confirmed the tendon ruptures. Surgery was scheduled for June 2. Serri called on May 31 to cancel the surgery, however, and sought a second opinion with his plastic and reconstructive surgery expert. The expert saw Serri on June 13, and recommended exploratory and reconstructive surgery on June 30. On June 30, Serri underwent the first stage of a two-stage reconstruction surgery in which a Hunter rod was placed within the finger, with the expectation of having a tendon graft within three-to-four months.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.