In December 2021, a then 62-year-old man developed a spinal epidural abscess after he had a spinal cord stimulator implanted. He was transported to the emergency department of a local hospital after experiencing worsening symptoms and sepsis. He had new-onset paralysis beginning at the T7 level of his spine at the time he arrived at the hospital.
The emergency room physician recognized that the man was suffering an acute neurological emergency and ordered imaging. The imaging was delayed because the hospital staff had to determine if the spinal cord stimulator was compatible with MRI imaging. Instead of contacting a representative of the spinal cord stimulator manufacturer, the hospital staff waited for the man’s out-of-state physician to authorize an MRI.
While the man waited in the emergency room for the MRI, the medical staff did not consult with an appropriate surgeon. He remained in the emergency room for seventeen hours during which his paralysis progressed. When the imaging was finally completed, the underlying condition was not diagnosed because the imaging focused on the wrong area of the man’s spine.
The man was transported back to a Kaiser hospital where imaging showed the spinal epidural abscess, which was then compressing his spine. By the time surgery was finally performed more than 27 hours after he first arrived at the hospital, the spinal injury had become permanent.
The man had been a diesel mechanic in Washington State for nearly thirty years before the incident and was looking forward to retiring soon. He tried to return to work after suffering his injuries, using a wheelchair at first and then progressing to use of a walker, but he ultimately had to leave work because of complications he suffered from infections and issues that arose from his hip. At the time of trial, the man’s mobility was limited: he can walk only short distances and he must use the handrails when climbing the stairs in his home.
Kaiser was not named as a defendant in the man’s Oregon medical malpractice lawsuit. The jury’s verdict in favor of the man in the amount of $10 million was allocated by the jury as follows: Kaiser was 80% at fault and the defendant physicians were 20% at fault.
The man’s medical malpractice lawyer stated after the verdict: “This verdict reflects the jury’s recognition that when a patient arrives in the emergency department with rapidly progressing paralysis, every hour matters. Our client did everything he could to get help — he even emailed his own doctor from the emergency room saying he was ‘going paralyzed’ and was terrified he might never walk again.”
Source John Douglas Cox vs Kaiser, et al., Multnomah County Case Number 23CV40984.
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