What steps should I take?

What is the name of your state? Michigan

My father is diabetic Type II. Never been a big issue but as he got older, was told to be careful when he got a hangnail or anything that could cause infection.

He had a hangnail and went to a Podiatrist. The Dr. knew he was diabetic. He removed the hangnail. A week later, it became infected so the Dr. had him coming back once a week for 4 months as it became worse and worse. The toe was getting darker but the Dr. told my father that is was just dried blood and not gangrene. Well after 4 months of this, my father went to another Dr. and was told it was gangrene.

To make a long story short...he had to have his toe removed and it didnt heal, so they took half his foot and that never healed, and today he's had his leg removed at the knee...3 surgeries within a month.

Amazing, he went in to the Dr. for a hangnail and now he is missing a leg. I'm so upset at that Podiatrist.

What steps should I take now to start this malpractice suit? Please help I really need advice

[ellencee]

Don't be surprised if you get two posts from me and then I delete one of them! The first one just zipped off the screen with me still typing! I don't know where it went, either!

Back to the subject matter of your post--

Wow. You have a toughie of a situation. Your father is the only one who can sue; of course, he can give you a power of attorney that allows you to act on his behalf and meet with attorneys, etc.

With Diabetes II, what you have described is not uncommon. It will have to be proven that the amputations would not have occurred except for the act(s) of negligence by the podiatrist who saw your father for the first four months.

I assure you, your father did not have gangrene in his toe for four months or even for a long period of time. The tissue would have begun to slough off once the gangrene began. Gangrene only grows in the absence of oxygen; therefore, it only grows it tissues that are dead from a lack of circulation.

The toes are the furtherest part of the body away from the heart and thus circulation to them is impaired more than in other areas. With the disease process of Diabetes II, those tiny vessels in the toes and the nerves in the toes are usually the first to go. That is why it is so important for diabetics to take good care of their feet and keep their blood sugars stable. Every time the blood sugar goes above normal, some of those vessels and nerves are damaged.

After years of fluctuating blood sugars, the vessels and nerves are already destroyed and incapable of healing a wound to the toes or the foot. A hangnail, or a blister, or a thorn in the foot, or stubbing a toe on a chair, can each lead to above the knee amputations within 3-4 months of the initial injury. That is without any negligence on the part of any medical person. It is the nature of the beast known as diabetes.

With each surgical intervention, the tissues and vessels and nerves are freshly insulted and require ample circulation and nutrition to heal. It is not uncommon for successive surgeries to be needed in order to reach a point at which the tissues are receiving ample circulation and nutrition; sometimes that point is below the knee, sometimes it is above the knee. The older the person, the higher the amputation usually is before healing can be obtained.

I've told you all of this so that you can see that you are going to be up against a disease that normally causes the very thing for which you wish to sue. You are going to have to focus on the physical findings in your father's medical records from the first podiatrist and be able to locate information that proves that your father had the capacity to heal from the hangnail and its removal and that the podiatrist provided treatment to your father's toe in manner below the minimum standard of care.

Most medmal attorneys provide free consultation appointments and you should be able to locate some in your area by checking the yellow pages. It certainly could not hurt for you to discuss this situation with a medmal attorney who has experience with diabetic foot injuries, treatments, and outcomes.

Best wishes,
EC

I’m sorry about your dad's amputation. Since the podiatrist is the one who thought it would be safe to cut that hang nail out, he should have made a referral to a hospital long before four months if your dad's toe was not healing and turning dark. The very first step you should take is speak to an attorney -- several if need be.

Here's a pretty good site on podiatry malpractice (url below). They are held to a different standard than MD's, but they can still be held liable for malpractice. Best of luck to your dad and family.

Here's the url on malpractice and podiatry

[url]http://www.footlaw.com/news/article.htm[/url]


Here's some other reading on diabetes.

[url]http://www.centralpodiatry.com/diabetes.cfm[/url]

[url]http://www.vh.org/navigation/vh/topics/adult_patient_diabetes.html[/url]


hmmbrdzz

Thanks for the advise.

I wanted to also add that my father has had hangnails in the past that my mother has successfully taken off with no problems.

The reason he is upset, besides the obvious is....the Dr. waited and treated it 4 months after it started getting darker and told him it was nothing..just dried blood.

My father went to this Dr. because of his Diabetes knowing that he did NOT want to take a chance and figured a professional would know gangrene when he saw it.

Maybe..at the most he would have lost a toe..but now he's missing a leg.

im sorry to hear about your fathers unfortunate condition. having tried a number of podiatric malpractice cases, i can tell you that you will have a significant fight on your hands. that said, as the other posts have advised, you need to consult with one or maybe several attorneys with medmal practices and you should do so as soon as possible. there will be a lot of work necessary before anyone will be able to competently advise if you have a case or not. all of the medical records will need to be gathered and reviewed and you will need an expert opinion stating that the podiatrist deviated from the standard of care owed to your father. if you can obtain that opinion, there are some tricky damages issues as set forth by the first post in response to your inquiry. good luck to you.

harris c. legome, esquire
wallace and legome, llp
1-800-536-6575
[email]attyhcl@aol.com[/email]

I agree with the last post. Stop trying this case yourself and see a good attorney. Make sure he has had experience dealing with a non-physician case. You can go to your court house and review some recent cases of malpractice until you find a podiatry case that the plaintiff's lawyer has won. That is the man to see.

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