A court in Chatham County, Georgia ruled that a hospital and a group of physicians must pay a total of $18 million to a patient who lost the use of her legs after an infectious disease specialist failed to diagnose or treat an infection that had spread to the woman’s spine soon enough to prevent paralysis.
On July 20, 2014, the plaintiff, a diabetic woman in her 50s, was seen in the emergency room with a complaint of acute back pain. She received treatment in the emergency room but was not admitted to the hospital. Less than two weeks later, on July 28, the plaintiff returned to the same emergency room; this time, her complaint was not only back pain, but also an altered mental state. This time, the hospital admitted her, and she was diagnosed with a bloodstream infection. According to attorneys for the plaintiff, an abscess had developed in the plaintiff’s spine at the time of her admission to the hospital, but doctors failed to diagnose the abscess until August 5, when an MRI showed swelling in her thoracic spine. She underwent spinal decompression surgery the following day, but it was not enough to prevent paralysis of her legs. She was discharged from the hospital on September 6 and has relied on a wheelchair ever since.
The attorneys for the defendants, which include the hospital where the patient was treated and the medical group to which the infectious disease specialist who saw her belongs, contend that the plaintiff’s paralysis was not due to negligence on their part. They argued that the spinal abscess, if she had one, was not the only cause of the paralysis. Rather, it was caused by blood clots or restricted blood flow to the spinal cord as a result of the bloodstream infection. Meanwhile, the patient’s poorly controlled diabetes put her at higher risk for serious complications like the ones she suffered. By the time she was admitted to the hospital, she was already suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis and acute kidney failure.
The court awarded the plaintiff $18 million in damages. Since the judge ruled that 90% of the fault for the plaintiff’s injury lay with the infectious diseases physician and 10% with the hospital, the physician group was ordered to pay $16.2 million, while the hospital was ordered to pay $1.8 million. The court determined that the doctor and the hospital did not use reasonable care in diagnosing and treating the plaintiff’s illness and that if she had received the appropriate treatment sooner, the paralysis could have been avoided. The plaintiff’s experts’ testimony had a significant impact on the court’s decision.
The plaintiff is currently paralyzed from the waist down and suffers from chronic pain. Based on medical evaluations of the plaintiff, her attorneys argue that the paralysis is likely permanent. Meanwhile, the plaintiff testified that she is optimistic that she will one day regain the use of her legs and be able to walk again.
