Do I Have a Malpractice Situation Here?
The scenario: in 2004 I had a dual fusion in my neck. One of the fusions didn't heal, but never seemed to cause me any problems. Fast-forward to 2013, when I'm having serious pain in the same area as before. The pain is excruciating, I have to resort to medical cannabis, and I live in a different place now. So I see a neurosurgeon and he says the pain is being caused by pinched nerves because I have massive arthritis in the nerve canals. He splits me open and does a roto-rooter job on both sides of my cervical spine, top to bottom, and uses the bone he gathered from that to repair the faulty fusion while he's there.
The problem: there has been no relief from the pain. I never saw the doctor after I left the hospital. All follow-ups were with his MA. She consistently blew off my pain and told me it was just my posture. A year post-surgery, things still hadn't improved. So last week I sought a second opinion.
This surgeon has informed me that the procedure the other doctor did on me was never intended to relieve pain. It's supposed to ease things like tingling and numbness in the extremity. I had minimal amounts of that, but my consistent issue from start to finish has been PAIN. Nothing else, just chronic crippling PAIN. So basically, what I have been told is that I spent over $35,000 and have a permanent zipper-shaped scar on the back of my neck for nothing. Because in essence, I came in with my radiator overheating, and he fixed it by rotating my tires.
To say I'm furious would be like saying the San Francisco earthquake shook things up a bit. I'd like to find a way to hold this doctor accountable for what he did to me. Can some of the attorneys here tell me if I have any kind of case here at all? I'm looking around for someone local to ask, but if there's a consensus that I really don't have anything to go on, I won't waste my (and their) time. What do you think?
The other stuff: I'm 61, in reasonably good health otherwise, and live in Washington State.
Thanks!