Is this a malpractice case (resulting in death)?

[Todd113]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello! To be honest, I don't know much about this subject so I thought I'd seek some advice to set me in the right direction.

Here's the situation. My father was going to a chiropractor for a little over a year for pain in his lower back, upper hip. She did take an x-ray but I'll get back to that a little later. So, during this time the problem only worsened and he was seeing this chiropractor and it was to the point that she had to literally move some kind of object back in place for my father to get any relief. Try and guess what it was? So, at the end, my father went two days in a row and she finally referred him to a specialist after over a year of this "treatment". Turns out he had sarcoma cancer and the tumor was the size of a football, so the doctors ordered the x-ray the chiropractor took to try and see how fast it had been growing, but only could comment that they were unable to read the x-ray she took which I found strange. So, of course he went along with the usual treatment for the cancer and he died exactly a year and six months after he was diagnosed.

My question is simply, does any accountability fall on the chiropractors shoulders? Was it her responsibility to tell him earlier on that we're not making progress after a month or two and you really need to get this checked out. I'm assuming she couldn't get any info from the x-ray that was taken since she never commented on it, only the cancer doctors said they couldn't make any sense of it, and it was useless.

Thanks!

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hello! To be honest, I don't know much about this subject so I thought I'd seek some advice to set me in the right direction.

Here's the situation. My father was going to a chiropractor for a little over a year for pain in his lower back, upper hip. She did take an x-ray but I'll get back to that a little later. So, during this time the problem only worsened and he was seeing this chiropractor and it was to the point that she had to literally move some kind of object back in place for my father to get any relief. Try and guess what it was? So, at the end, my father went two days in a row and she finally referred him to a specialist after over a year of this "treatment". Turns out he had sarcoma cancer and the tumor was the size of a football, so the doctors ordered the x-ray the chiropractor took to try and see how fast it had been growing, but only could comment that they were unable to read the x-ray she took which I found strange. So, of course he went along with the usual treatment for the cancer and he died exactly a year and six months after he was diagnosed.

My question is simply, does any accountability fall on the chiropractors shoulders? Was it her responsibility to tell him earlier on that we're not making progress after a month or two and you really need to get this checked out. I'm assuming she couldn't get any info from the x-ray that was taken since she never commented on it, only the cancer doctors said they couldn't make any sense of it, and it was useless.

Thanks!

The problem is that chiropractors are very limited in what they can actually do. For example, they cannot prescribe medicine in the US unless they're also a physician or a NP. They cannot diagnose, either.

What concerns me is the timing. Would you be comfortable telling us exactly what form of cancer it was?

I'm so sorry for your loss, too.

 

[Todd113]

The problem is that chiropractors are very limited in what they can actually do. For example, they cannot prescribe medicine in the US unless they're also a physician or a NP. They cannot diagnose, either.

What concerns me is the timing. Would you be comfortable telling us exactly what form of cancer it was?

I'm so sorry for your loss, too.

Thank you.

It was sarcoma, which is a bone cancer, the tumor was latched onto the bone itself and expanded outward(and wrapped around) from what doctors told me, the size of a football. To be honest, I never heard of anyone coming back from a malignant tumor that size, but the doctors felt treatment was possible which is another story. When he was first diagnosed, at that earliest time it was considered and extremely aggressive mass. In my own opinion, if it were me and I had a patient that was not responding to treatment whether it be chiropractic or acupuncture, I would say, look, I can't help you anymore until you get this checked out, that's what I would do anyway, but that's irrelevant.

 

[Dave1952]

Sorry to hear of your loss. The phone book is full of medical malpractice lawyers who will give a free initial consult. Call a few and see what they have to say. See if any of them strikes you as the sort of person you like and trust. If you hope to use a "contingency" fee system be sure that you understand the contingency agreement. Most such agreements give "win or no-pay" service to the client but there are often fees that still must be paid by the client, so read the fine print.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

... My question is simply, does any accountability fall on the chiropractors shoulders? Was it her responsibility to tell him earlier on that we're not making progress after a month or two and you really need to get this checked out. I'm assuming she couldn't get any info from the x-ray that was taken since she never commented on it, only the cancer doctors said they couldn't make any sense of it, and it was useless. ...

I am sorry for the loss of your father, Todd. Cancer, in whatever form it takes, is a horrible disease, not only for the one suffering from it but for all of those who know and love the person.

Here is a link to the Florida statute that governs chiropractors:
http://law.justia.com/codes/florida/2005/TitleXXXII/ch0460.html (please note that this links to the law as it was in 2005 and there may have been some changes since then)

First, in Florida, all chiropractors must be licensed. "No person other than a licensed chiropractic physician may render chiropractic services, chiropractic adjustments, or chiropractic manipulations" - §460.403 (9)(a).

It will be important for you to determine, first, if the your dad's chiropractor was licensed with the State and if she had any disciplinary actions taken against her in the past. You can check out §460.411 Violations and Penalties, and §460.413 Grounds for Disciplinary Action (9), to see if your dad's treatment could potentially be seen to have violated any state law.

I agree with Dave1952 that you might want to find a medical-malpractice attorney to review the facts, to see if the attorney thinks the chiropractor acted outside the normal standard of care for a person with your dad's medical complaint. You can locate a medical-malpractice attorney in your area through the Florida Bar Association site: http://www.floridabar.org

The poor quality of the X-ray that the chiropractor ordered is of some concern, but whether a clear X-ray would have revealed the tumor at the time the X-ray was taken is a question mark, since you said the cancer was an aggressive one. It could take an expert to determine this better.

Again, I am sorry for your loss, Todd.

 

[LAWMED]

A thought regarding the x-ray: Until it is reviewed by a third party expert you really have no objective opinion on what it did or did not reveal. His physician may have been reluctant to say that a tumor could be seen since he would likely assume that would get him a seat in a deposition in a future malpractice claim against the chiropractor (which it would). Some docs avoid such hassles like the plague. He MAY have gotten what he needed from the x-ray and simply preferred not to discuss it further.

 

[quincy]

A thought regarding the x-ray: Until it is reviewed by a third party expert you really have no objective opinion on what it did or did not reveal. His physician may have been reluctant to say that a tumor could be seen since he would likely assume that would get him a seat in a deposition in a future malpractice claim against the chiropractor (which it would). Some docs avoid such hassles like the plague. He MAY have gotten what he needed from the x-ray and simply preferred not to discuss it further.

LAWMED, although it could be possible, as you say, that "some docs avoid such hassles like the plague," it violates both the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians Code of Ethics to FAIL to disclose to a patient any judgment errors or procedural errors made during a patient's care that could, would or did affect this care. Not only does a patient have a legal right to this information, a doctor is ethically required to provide it.

If a doctor is concerned about legal liability above his informing his patients of mistakes that might have been made, he actually increases his risks of finding himself part of a future malpractice claim or of having a malpractice claim filed against him.