A 62-year-old woman with lumbar spine disease had a lumbar epidural steroid injection on October 1, 2021. During the procedure, the doctor negligently breached the woman’s dura, causing the steroids to enter into her subdural space. As a result, she suffered extreme headaches, debilitating lower back pain radiating into her legs, and bowel dysfunction, which were consistent with adhesive arachnoiditis. An MRI on November 2, 2021 confirmed adhesive arachnoiditis but the doctor allegedly concealed the MRI findings from the woman, leading to delay in effective treatment.
In March 2022, a California medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against the doctor and his medical practice that alleged that the doctor negligently entered her dura with the needle, and subsequently concealed from her the results of the MRI that confirmed adhesive arachnoiditis, which caused fibrotic scarring of nerve roots and blood vessels that resulted in chronic pain and neurological impairments. The lawsuit alleged that the delay in treatment caused by the concealment of the injury resulted in permanent injury that could have been prevented.
The defendants reportedly argued that the lumbar epidural steroid injection was performed properly and that the plaintiff suffered from inherent risks of the procedure. They denied concealing facts regarding the plaintiff’s condition from her, and argued that her headaches and lower back pain were consistent with her underlying lumbar spine disease and were not caused by adhesive arachnoiditis.
The California medical malpractice jury found in favor of the plaintiff on October 9, 2024, awarding $1,832,500 in damages that included $865,000 for future medical expenses, $96,750 for past non-economic losses for physical pain and mental suffering, and $870,750 for future ongoing physical and emotional harm. The jury further determined that the defendants’ intentional misrepresentations resulted in significant harm and awarded an additional $967,500 in damages, which included $96,750 for past non-economic losses and $870,750 for future non-economic losses associated with physical pain and mental suffering.
This case underscores an important distinction between a known risk of a medical procedure or medical treatment that may not be the result of medical negligence when it occurs, and the breach of the standard of care that is medical malpractice. Just because a bad outcome is a known risk of the treatment does not mean that the medical provider is not responsible for the bad outcome, if it was due to the negligence of the medical provider.
By way of example, it is a known risk that when you are driving on a public road, you may be involved in a crash that was unavoidable even with the exercise of reasonable care, such as when you are driving at a safe and legal speed when a small child runs into the street from between parked cars just in front of you, causing you to swerve to avoid striking the child but instead striking a parked vehicle on the other side of the road. However, if you are driving on a two-way street with a solid yellow line separating the lanes of traffic when a vehicle coming from the opposite direction suddenly crosses the yellow line, enters your lane of traffic, and collides into your vehicle in your lane of traffic due to the other driver looking down at their cellphone and not paying attention to driving within their lane of traffic, the other driver is responsible for the harm caused by their negligence.
If you or a family member were injured as a result of medical malpractice in California or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a California medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your medical medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your family member in a medical medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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