$3,700,000 Settlement for Failure to Diagnose Spine Condition

The firm represented a 53-year-old Middlesex County woman who became paralyzed below the waist after doctors and other healthcare providers failed to diagnose and timely treat her spine condition. The woman was admitted on Oct. 3, 2004, to Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield, New Jersey after going to the emergency room with back pain. However, a thoracic-spine hematoma was not found until the next day, allowing pressure within the spine from that condition to continue for a prolonged period of time; causing paralysis. The hematoma was most likely caused by blood thinners that our client was administered for vascular disease, which led to amputation of one leg at the knee. The paralysis could have been prevented had the hematoma been found earlier and removed. The firm secured settlements in this case against multiple defendants, totaling $3,700,000.