If you seek medical care in Maryland, you expect doctors to diagnose you quickly and correctly. In this case from across the border, a West Virginian couple has claimed that a pair of medical providers did not correctly diagnose a man who had suffered a traumatic head injury and neck injury. They believe that this lack of a diagnosis led to the man becoming a full quadriplegic.
The June 4 report shows how important it is to make sure neck and brain injuries are fully investigated, because in this case, it seems like one that wasn’t diagnosed soon enough and led to a man being paralyzed. According to the story, the man suffered the neck and head injuries in a lawn mower accident in May 2012. He went to the hospital, and that was where he was placed under the care of two medical providers, a doctor and nurse practitioner.
The medical staff allegedly did not find his injuries to be serious despite his complaints. The lawsuit claims he continued to suffer from movement problems and pain, and he saw a new doctor on May 16, 2012. She allegedly also reported that his injuries didn’t appear serious, but she sent him for further testing to be sure. That testing showed that he had a previously undiagnosed spinal cord injury from the lawn mower accident.
It is believed that because the man was untreated for so long, the injury became worse and eventually led to his paralysis. The couple filing the lawsuit claim that the medical providers were negligent, and they claim that they did not diagnose the man’s injury in a timely fashion. That allegedly prevented treatments and recovery.
Source: The West Virginia Record, “Couple claim missed diagnosis led to man’s paralysis” Matt Russell, Jun. 04, 2014
