Undisclosed Settlement
Our client was a 44 year-old father of three. He was shovelling snow when he heard a pop in his back. His back became very painful and he started to develop numbness in his legs. He went to his local emergency room. His legs became weak and the numbness progressed. These symptoms were caused by a huge disc herniation at T11-12 causing a spinal stenosis (narrowing) which, if left undiagnosed and untreated, would lead to a complete spinal cord injury and paralysis.
Unfortunately, a CT scan was not ordered in a timely way and our client’s spinal cord was permanently damaged. He will live the rest of his life in a wheelchair as a result. If a CT scan had been ordered earlier (before the damage was done) surgery could have been done to address the stenosis.
We sued the doctor and retained medical experts to comment on how his outcome would have been different with proper care. The case ultimately settled for a confidential sum in the millions. The settlement made a huge difference to our client, who had tried to go back to work but could not cope with the demands of employment following his injury.