NationStates Jolt Archive

Saturday 7/9 I severely lacerated my left thumb and rushed to the ER.

I eventually got stitched up and was told my hand would be fine in a week, the tendon was not cut, and to see a doctor to have the sutures removed.

One week later, I had the sutures removed and discovered the tendon was indeed cut (and now retracted into the arm) and the sutures were done incorrectly, so that the wound had not begun primary healing.

I was referred to a hand specialist who did a swab and determined i had a mild staff infection that made the hand inoperable for about a week.

My hand is healing now, and my operation is schedualed for aug 2.

Does anyone have any real experience or actual familiarity with malpractice law and any thoughts or ideas on the situation.

Sue.

It's the AMERICAN way!

Seriously though. It's a tough world. Get what you can!

Yeah, sue. Or threaten to sue, and they'll pay.

undoubtedly you can sue because they did not know what they were doing or talking about, i had the tendons in one of my fingers partially lacerated and the doctors werent sure if i had or not so they sent me to a hand specialist the next day (they gave me temporary stiches) and the day after that i was having surgery to repair them. that doctor/nurse had no idea what they were doing and should have had you sent to a specialist instead of botching everything. you could get a lot for medical bills, pain and suffering, trauma, and even more i bet you will probly have to talk to a lawyer first which might cost u a little but u would almost definately have some money coming in. and know the persons name would definately be a thing that u would need.
actually u probly wouldnt need the name because you would be sueing the hospital, and if you have your lawyer call them they will almost definately settle out of court because they would not want all the bad publicity or having to pay for lawyers or any of that kind of stuff so you would most likely have them in your hands and they would be compromising with you, hold relatively firm and compromise: dont expect them to pay you millions(but maybe say u want a million and then lower it from there)

Generally to sue for malpractice you need to find a deviation from the standard of care. Some of these standards are universal and some vary from hospital to hospital. My best advice is to see a lawyer have them look over the facts and if they think that there is sufficent evidence to point to a deviation then yes you can sue. However your going to come up against stiff opposition if there is sound evidence that it wasnt a deviation and these trials can take a long time. I work at a law firm that defends doctors in malpractice cases and believe me these things take time.