Do I have a malpractice case?

[slspells]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Missouri
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Missouri
I am a 35 year old female that was referred to a neurosurgeon due to low back pain. The neurosurgeon I saw had me complete a full lumbar series, MRI and CAT scan. He informed me that I had a bilateral pars defect, spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis. Without any further testing he recommended surgery. I underwent a percutaneous L5-S1 instrumentation, right sided decompressive foraminotomy and single level fusion. He had intended to do a posterior interbody fusion as well but for technical reasons, was unable to do so. Four weeks after surgery I was released to go back to work doing regular duties. I had a minor fall at work 6 weeks after the surgery and thought nothing of it until my back pain became intolerable a week later. I contacted the doctor and was told to just come in for my scheduled 8 week follow up since it was only a week away. In the meantime I was given a prescription for Norco (10-235) and told to take those for the pain. At the follow up, I informed the doctor of how much pain I was in and how I could feel something hard grinding on my spine. The doctor ordered another series of xrays and sent me home. The very next day I was contacted and told that I had two broken screw shafts and to come back in to the office. (The screws are titanium- I was dumbfounded as I was under the impression that titanium was unbreakable.) I was then informed that the screws broke when I fell and that we would now have to start over from the beginning. Because I fell at work, I had to file a workman's comp claim. WC required that I see one of their doctors for evaluation. The WC doctor reviewed my records, ordered new scans himself. After reviewing everything he informed me that the original fusion was "doomed from the start" and had zero chance of ever fusing. He said that the neurosurgeon harvested less than 5 cc's of bone graft material when it normally takes 40-50cc's at a minimum and that when he was unable to complete the posterior interbody fusion, he should have proceeded with an anterior interbody fusion. Due to this WC denied my claim so I sought a third opinion. My current doctor is an orthopedic spine surgeon. He has agreed with everything the WC doctor said. As of today I have had to start over. I've had a new MRI, CAT scan, full lumbar series and a discogram. As it turns out, even if the fusion had been successful, I would still have continued pain because the disc that was causing the majority of my pain is the level above where the hardware was placed. I am now preparing to have another surgery to remove the broken hardware and then complete a new two level posterior and anterior fusion. I will be off work for another 6-8 weeks minimum which places my job in jeopardy as my FMLA is quickly running out. I continue to take the Norco painkillers in order so that I can keep working- without them I have a hard time doing anything. I'm praying I don't have to deal with breaking an addiction to them by the time everything is said and done. I have been told by many people to file a malpractice suit but don't know that I have a case. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[ecmst12]

This is beyond the level of what we can really evaluate on this board. You really need to consult an experienced malpractice attorney for a full case review. On the surface, it appears you have medical opinions stating that the surgeon performed inadequately during your surgery. However you also have the confounding occurence of the fall - you will have a hard time proving that your damages (whatever they may be at the end of all of this) are due SOLELY to negligence in the surgery and would have occurred even if you had not fallen. There is also the fact that spinal surgeries have a pretty poor success rate even when done correctly. So you have a lot of complicated issues here and your case really needs a detailed review to determine whether a lawsuit is possible/practical.

You should also see a lawyer about your WC claim.