Most everyone has suffered from back pain at one time or another. We overdo working in the yard or we lift something a bit too heavy. When back pain is severe enough to warrant a trip to a physician’s office, urgent care clinic or emergency room, though it should be investigated thoroughly as it could be a symptom of something very serious such as a spinal cord compression, abscess or infection.
Unfortunately, too often, this is not the case. Back pain is a common complaint of patients visiting medical facilities and often not taken seriously by medical personnel. Add to that the current opioid crisis which is finding doctors dismissing patients as “medication seekers” instead of investigating the cause of the pain.
McKeen & Associates has represented several patients and their families who died or are suffering lifelong consequences due to the negligence of medical staff who misdiagnosed or undertreated their back pain.
Most recently, McKeen & Associates attorneys Steven Hurbis and Brian McKeen settled a case for $1.9 million on behalf of a Genesee County man whose spinal cord infection was not treated in a timely manner. Because of the man’s severe agitation, an MRI under sedation was needed to diagnose properly, but it took the hospital four days to complete. During this delay, the man’s condition deteriorated. Due to the delays, misdiagnosis, and lack of appropriate treatment, he suffered irreversible, severe neurological damage which will last his lifetime.
Spinal compression, abscess and infection are easy to misdiagnosis and timely imaging and treatment is crucial to prevent severe lifelong complications and death.
