On February 25, 2018, a 7-year-old who was learning how to ski suffered a right hip dislocation and a tibia fracture in Red River, New Mexico. She was initially brought to Holy Cross Medical Center in Taos, New Mexico, where her hip injury was treated and a closed reduction with casting was performed to set her tibia fracture. She was then transported to UNM Hospital, a public teaching hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to be evaluated for a head injury.
An orthopedic surgeon at UNM decided to remove and recast the cast that had been originally placed by an orthopedic surgeon who works for the U.S. Ski Team. The child’s New Mexico medical malpractice lawyer said, “To this day, I do not understand why they decided they needed to reset her leg. When they put this cast on her, they put it on incorrectly, and it caused a tremendous amount of pressure on her ankle and her calf and ended up causing tissues in her ankle and calf to die, and she ultimately had to have multiple surgeries to correct that.”
The girl’s lawyer continued: “Each of the defendants … were part of the medical team providing treatment and care for [the girl] over the 29-hour period following placement of the cast. Based on the records, and upon information and belief, none of the defendants met their respective duties as treating doctors, physician assistants, and nurses to take the actions required of them to hasten removal of the cast in a timely fashion.”
As a result, the girl now has an altered gait: “She has one leg and foot that is significantly smaller than the other because it has not grown properly due to all the damage that was done. She has severe scarring on her lower leg, and she will always have problems with this leg for the rest of her life.”
The girl now has pain if she attempts to walk long distances and her ability to participate in sports is limited: “To this little girl’s credit, she keeps trying, and she’s always kept trying, but the sad fact is that she sits at the end of the bench on a basketball team and doesn’t get to play. Most likely, she’ll reach a point where she just doesn’t get to be on the team. They’ve tried to accommodate her as best they can to this point, but the truth of the matter is her athletic future is very dim.” She may require further surgeries in the future.
New Mexico agreed to pay the girl’s parents $700,000 to settle their New Mexico medical malpractice case. The New Mexico cap on medical malpractice damages was $750,000 at the time of the injury. In 2021, New Mexico raised its cap on damages in medical malpractice cases involving hospitals to $4 million in 2022, with increases each year until it reaches $6 million in 2026. In 2024, New Mexico excluded small, private clinics from the maximum cap applied to hospitals.
If you or a loved one may have been injured as a result of medical negligence in New Mexico or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a New Mexico 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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