Ratzan Weissman & Bolt secured a $5.9 million settlement in 2022 on behalf of an 84-year-old man who was left partially paralyzed after physicians at a hospital failed to follow the standard of care and proper safety protocols.
In 2016, the patient presented to a hospital in South Florida with complaints of severe lower back pain, fever and chills. Blood tests were taken and showed the patient was positive for MRSA, a serious infection of the bloodstream that can lead to life-threatening conditions.
Despite clear signs and symptoms of a severe back infection, doctors chose not to order an MRI of the patient’s back until five days into his admission at the hospital. And, even when an MRI was ordered, the doctors chose not to order it STAT, further delaying the MRI until the next day when another physician changed the MRI order to STAT.
The MRI revealed and the doctors diagnosed the patient with a spinal epidural abscess with cord compression. Spinal surgery was performed the next day, but it was too late.
An MRI of the back is the gold standard for the diagnosis of a spinal epidural abscess. This is not an invasive treatment, but a simple imaging study designed to prevent catastrophic outcomes like the one that happened in this case. An MRI was not performed for almost six days.
As a result of this violation of the standard of care and complete lack of appropriate safety systems followed, the patient was left partially paralyzed from the waist down. He now requires a catheter to go to the bathroom and attendant care to assist him with activities of daily living. These were supposed to be his glory years, but that was taken away from him. Although his life has been forever damaged, RWB was able to secure a settlement that will cover his future medical expenses and take care of him for the rest of his life.
Ratzan Weissman & Boldt have obtained more than $200 million in verdicts and settlements. Our firm is dedicated to honorable and unyielding representation of patients, consumers, and catastrophically injured individuals in state and federal courts. These cases are examples of the achievements of our firm’s attorneys. All are real cases. However, these examples should not be taken as a guarantee that the same results would be achieved in another case.