An Arizona medical malpractice lawsuit seeking $13 million in compensatory damages on behalf of a 40-year-old woman who became paralyzed due to the alleged delay in receiving diagnostic services for a spinal abscess in an Arizona hospital was filed against physicians, nurses, and other medical staff of the hospital.
The Arizona medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the woman went to the hospital in September 2023 complaining of severe back pain, numbness in her legs, as well as shortness of breath. According to the woman’s complaint, there was a delay of a day and a half, during which she was in excruciating pain, before an MRI was performed that showed an abscess on her spine. She was then sent to another hospital for spinal surgery but by then the damage was too severe and she suffered permanent paralysis. She claims that had her condition been diagnosed sooner, emergency surgery could have been performed sooner that would have prevented her from developing paralysis from the waist down that prevents her from walking and taking care of her three children: “Way too many mistakes, loopholes, whatever you want to call them. It was a lack of anything. Nothing was essentially done for nearly 36 hours. I laid there and then I laid there paralyzed. I fell through the cracks and things need to significantly change. My kids shouldn’t have to live like this. They shouldn’t have to take on my burdens because of somebody else’s mistake.”
Spinal Epidural Abscess
A spinal epidural abscess is an infection of the central nervous system that classically presents with midline back pain, fever, and neurologic deficits. It is difficult to diagnose and requires a high index of suspicion. When left untreated, spinal epidural abscess can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Thus, any clinical concern for this diagnosis requires prompt evaluation and treatment. Diagnosing and managing spinal epidural abscesses are greatly aided by the advent of modern radiological techniques, including computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The incidence of spinal epidural abscess is approximately 2 to 8 cases per 10,000 hospital admissions. The lumbar spine (48%) is the most common location of involvement. Back pain (67%) followed by motor weakness (52%) are the most common presenting symptoms. 60% of patients are managed surgically.
Four stages have been described in the natural history of the disease:
- Stage 1 – Back pain, fever, or spine tenderness
- Stage 2 – Radicular pain and nuchal rigidity
- Stage 3 – Neurological deficits, and
- Stage 4 – Paralysis (in roughly 34% of patients).
Irreversible paralysis still affects 4 to 22% of patients owing largely to delay in diagnosis and suboptimal management; 11 to 75% of them are initially misdiagnosed.
If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of medical malpractice in Arizona or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Arizona medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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