Missouri Injury Law Blog

A St Louis medical negligence lawsuit we have been working on for several years settled for over $900,000. The injured Plaintiff was seen by a St Louis doctor who performed a cervical nerve root block. See Negligent Pain Injection Lawyer. Within fifteen minutes of the procedure she was left partially paralyzed, fortunately, she has mostly recovered from her paralysis and was able to return to her full time job.

We believe that the negligent doctor caused the partial paralysis by allowing the medicine to invade an artery through a combination of negligent techniques. One, the dosage of the pain medication steroid was double the recommended amount, two, the operative technique was negligent as he failed to use tubing between the syringe and needle to minimize needle movement, and three, the basic placement of the needle prior to the injection was in a dangerous location. See St Louis Medical Malpractice Lawyer Article: "Missouri Medical Negligence - Cervical Pain Injection Hits an Artery - Med Mal causes Depo Medrol to go into Spinal Cord and Brain - Spinal Cord Injury and Brain Injury resulting in Partial Paralysis"

Despite our injured client's neurological deficits, she missed only a few months of work and was able to return to her job full time within months of the spinal cord injury. She incurred about $200,000 in medical bills as a result of the injury and no lost wages. Generally, arterial invasion by a steroid results in devastating injuries and death, our client was lucky that her injuries were relatively minor.

One of the essential requirements to successfully pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit is retaining a good medical expert. See St Louis Medical Negligence Attorney Article: "Use of Expert Witnesses by Missouri Injury Attorneys to successfully pursue Missouri Injury Claims and Lawsuits" Not only do you need an expert to testify regarding liability or negligence (violation of the medical standard of care), but before a Missouri medical negligence lawsuit can even be filed you must have a certificate of merit under Missouri Statute 538.225 or else the medical malpractice lawsuit will be dismissed. In fact, before retaining our St Louis medical malpractice law firm, our client initially retained another personal injury lawyer, however, they failed to file a certificate of merit and her case was dismissed. Additionally, they decided not to pursue the case after consulting with a medical expert. After we received the file, we immediately retained a well known and qualified expert in the field of diagnostic radiology. In fact, through a little research, we found out the expert the previous attorneys consulted with is a well defense expert, so obviously he talked the case down and immediately defended the negligent doctor.

Medical malpractice cases are time intensive, difficult, and very expensive. Many lawyers claim they handle medical malpractice cases, however few can successfully pursue them with excellent results. Choose your lawyer carefully.

Continue reading "St Louis Medical Malpractice Settlement: $900,000.00 for Spinal Cord Injury after Negligent Pain Injection " »

Currently we are representing the victim of medical malpractice in St Louis Missouri, she was completely paralyzed after a cervical pain injection hit her artery taking the medication (depo medrol) to her spinal cord and brain, where it caused lesions and serious nerve damage. For several months she was completely paralyzed from the chest down, thankfully, she has made great strides since then but still faces many daily challenges. Unfortunately, she still walks with a severe limp and has no feeling from the waist down causing hardship on a daily basis.

The contrast dye that is shot first, before the steroid medicine, to confirm needle placement can be seen in the picture to the side.

A few lawyers told her she did not have a case, I have heard this before, in fact, my largest multimillion dollar medical malpractice settlement (4.5 million) was for a Missouri medical malpractice case that several previous lawyers though was not a case; expertise and experience in the medical legal arena is key to evaluating a case. That case ended up being the largest reported Missouri medical malpractice settlement in Missouri for 2007 and settled for a whopping $4,500,000.00 about 1 month prior to trial.

After meeting with the client is this case I immediately knew she had a case and was determined to find the medical evidence and experts to support her case. Within just a few short months we had two specialists that 100% agree with me.

In this case, the patient received a depo medrol shot that was supposed to go into the nerve root and block the pain signal that was being sent to her brain. The St Louis MO medical negligence occurred when the pain injection doctor not only hit the artery, but then injected the depo medrol into that artery, carrying the medication to the spinal cord and frontal lobe of the brain and killing nerves and cells, thus resulting in serious spinal cord injuries and brain injuries resulting in permanent partial paralysis.