What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maine
Hi everyone,
My husband and I are curious as to whether we have a legit case or not. Here's what happened: On February 15th, my husband slipped and fell on the ice on our deck at our home and he landed directly on his right shoulder on the edge of our wooden front step. He had very severe sharp pain. Both my husband and I are licensed paramedics and we both initially thought that it was just severely bruised, so he used ice for the first several hours, took ibuprofen, and then later started applying heat. Two days later, when the pain wasn't any better, we decided that he needed x-rays, so we went to our local urgent/walk-in care. This was on the 17th. The physician who saw him closely examined his shoulder and saw that he couldn't even put his shoulder through the simplest range of motion. He also commented on how swollen it was. The doctor then ordered x-rays. After the x-rays were done, the doctor came back into the room and his exact words were "It definitely isn't broken. You just have a severe contusion. You're going to have pain for the next 1-2 weeks, but then it will get better. Use only heat and continue taking ibuprofen. You can use a sling, but take it off every hour so that your shoulder doesn't freeze." My husband and I were, of course, both relieved that he didn't have any fractures. We went home and my husband followed the doctor's instructions and went about his normal routine of going to work each day and trying to gradually begin using his shoulder again.
Fast forward to last week on the 27th (ten days after the urgent care visit), he finally went to his see his primary care physician because the pain just was not getting better at all. If anything, it was getting worse and he was having a very hard time doing his job at work because it involves being at a computer most of the day and he could barely even type or use the computer mouse without excruciating pain. He also was having a very hard time sleeping because of the pain. When his primary doctor came in to see him, he said "So, you fractured your shoulder, huh?" My husband had no idea what he was talking about and explained that he was told by the physician at urgent care that it was only contused/bruised. The doctor then said "Nope. I have the radiologist's report right here from the x-rays you had on the 17th and it says that your shoulder is fractured in multiple locations on the frontal view. No one called you to tell you?" My husband told him that absolutely no one had contacted us to let us know that his shoulder was in fact broken. Now, because it has been so long since the fracture occurred (2 weeks), he has to go see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow and is looking at possible surgery to correct this since it has not been properly treated this entire time.
We have already contacted an attorney in our area that deals with medical malpractice/negligence. They are going to call us the day after his appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to find out how that went and what the next step is going to be and then they will determine if they want to pursue a case with us.
Basically, we wanted to get some opinions as to whether we may have a legitimate case against this urgent care facility and/or the hospital system that it is a part of. No one ever even attempted to make contact with us once the radiologist gave the official read on his x-rays and determined that his shoulder was actually fractured. They had several methods available to them to contact us. They have both mine and my husband's cell phone numbers, our home phone number, home mailing address, even my husband's email address on file, yet 10 days went by and no one ever contacted us to tell us that he had been misdiagnosed and that his shoulder was not just contused like we were initially told, but that it actually is fractured in several locations. Had he not gone to see his primary care provider on the 27th, who knows how long it would have taken for us to find out it was fractured?! Obviously, no one was planning to call and tell us! We will find out tomorrow afternoon if he is going to need surgery since he has gone so long without proper treatment.
Also, as soon as we found out about this fracture, I got right on the phone and called the urgent care facility and asked why we were not contacted about this. They couldn't give me an answer at all. The nurse I spoke with actually was a bit at a loss for words. All she told me was that they would bring this to the attention of their lead physician and that it would be an "internal matter." I also filed a formal complaint with patient relations at the hospital that the urgent care is associated with. It's also the hospital where his x-rays were formally read.
Any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated!
Hi everyone,
My husband and I are curious as to whether we have a legit case or not. Here's what happened: On February 15th, my husband slipped and fell on the ice on our deck at our home and he landed directly on his right shoulder on the edge of our wooden front step. He had very severe sharp pain. Both my husband and I are licensed paramedics and we both initially thought that it was just severely bruised, so he used ice for the first several hours, took ibuprofen, and then later started applying heat. Two days later, when the pain wasn't any better, we decided that he needed x-rays, so we went to our local urgent/walk-in care. This was on the 17th. The physician who saw him closely examined his shoulder and saw that he couldn't even put his shoulder through the simplest range of motion. He also commented on how swollen it was. The doctor then ordered x-rays. After the x-rays were done, the doctor came back into the room and his exact words were "It definitely isn't broken. You just have a severe contusion. You're going to have pain for the next 1-2 weeks, but then it will get better. Use only heat and continue taking ibuprofen. You can use a sling, but take it off every hour so that your shoulder doesn't freeze." My husband and I were, of course, both relieved that he didn't have any fractures. We went home and my husband followed the doctor's instructions and went about his normal routine of going to work each day and trying to gradually begin using his shoulder again.
Fast forward to last week on the 27th (ten days after the urgent care visit), he finally went to his see his primary care physician because the pain just was not getting better at all. If anything, it was getting worse and he was having a very hard time doing his job at work because it involves being at a computer most of the day and he could barely even type or use the computer mouse without excruciating pain. He also was having a very hard time sleeping because of the pain. When his primary doctor came in to see him, he said "So, you fractured your shoulder, huh?" My husband had no idea what he was talking about and explained that he was told by the physician at urgent care that it was only contused/bruised. The doctor then said "Nope. I have the radiologist's report right here from the x-rays you had on the 17th and it says that your shoulder is fractured in multiple locations on the frontal view. No one called you to tell you?" My husband told him that absolutely no one had contacted us to let us know that his shoulder was in fact broken. Now, because it has been so long since the fracture occurred (2 weeks), he has to go see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow and is looking at possible surgery to correct this since it has not been properly treated this entire time.
We have already contacted an attorney in our area that deals with medical malpractice/negligence. They are going to call us the day after his appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to find out how that went and what the next step is going to be and then they will determine if they want to pursue a case with us.
Basically, we wanted to get some opinions as to whether we may have a legitimate case against this urgent care facility and/or the hospital system that it is a part of. No one ever even attempted to make contact with us once the radiologist gave the official read on his x-rays and determined that his shoulder was actually fractured. They had several methods available to them to contact us. They have both mine and my husband's cell phone numbers, our home phone number, home mailing address, even my husband's email address on file, yet 10 days went by and no one ever contacted us to tell us that he had been misdiagnosed and that his shoulder was not just contused like we were initially told, but that it actually is fractured in several locations. Had he not gone to see his primary care provider on the 27th, who knows how long it would have taken for us to find out it was fractured?! Obviously, no one was planning to call and tell us! We will find out tomorrow afternoon if he is going to need surgery since he has gone so long without proper treatment.
Also, as soon as we found out about this fracture, I got right on the phone and called the urgent care facility and asked why we were not contacted about this. They couldn't give me an answer at all. The nurse I spoke with actually was a bit at a loss for words. All she told me was that they would bring this to the attention of their lead physician and that it would be an "internal matter." I also filed a formal complaint with patient relations at the hospital that the urgent care is associated with. It's also the hospital where his x-rays were formally read.
Any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated!
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