Yes. And the risk is this: You get a staph infection in that knee, the doctor ignores it for 5 months, despite pulling some really nasty looking fluids out of the knee several times, and despite the physical therapist writing him a letter warning him of possible infection. When you finally tell him to refer you to another surgeon, the 2n…
Yes. And the risk is this: You get a staph infection in that knee, the doctor ignores it for 5 months, despite pulling some really nasty looking fluids out of the knee several times, and despite the physical therapist writing him a letter warning him of possible infection. When you finally tell him to refer you to another surgeon, the 2nd surgeon meets you, puts his hand on the knee and says, “Yep. You’ve got an infection.” So you go back into surgery, have the knee joint removed, a spacer put in, and go on IV Vancomycin for 3 months, at which point, the 2nd surgeon repeats the surgery to remove the spacer and then again to put in a new knee joint, which, sadly, ultimately fails because the staph infection has so scarred your tissue that it turns into bone—literally. Leaving you, in the end, with a leg without a knee joint that bends, so you are disabled and lose your license to fly (did I mention you were a licensed commercial pilot?) forcing you into early retirement. When you contact an attorney, they say you can’t sue the initial surgeon because you can’t prove medical malpractice. It’s a small risk, yes. But it can happen. Because it did. Good luck.
Yes. And the risk is this: You get a staph infection in that knee, the doctor ignores it for 5 months, despite pulling some really nasty looking fluids out of the knee several times, and despite the physical therapist writing him a letter warning him of possible infection. When you finally tell him to refer you to another surgeon, the 2nd surgeon meets you, puts his hand on the knee and says, “Yep. You’ve got an infection.” So you go back into surgery, have the knee joint removed, a spacer put in, and go on IV Vancomycin for 3 months, at which point, the 2nd surgeon repeats the surgery to remove the spacer and then again to put in a new knee joint, which, sadly, ultimately fails because the staph infection has so scarred your tissue that it turns into bone—literally. Leaving you, in the end, with a leg without a knee joint that bends, so you are disabled and lose your license to fly (did I mention you were a licensed commercial pilot?) forcing you into early retirement. When you contact an attorney, they say you can’t sue the initial surgeon because you can’t prove medical malpractice. It’s a small risk, yes. But it can happen. Because it did. Good luck.