Arachnoiditis

[Lamar]

In sept. of '06 I had a L5-S1 fusion. 6 months later the Dr. needed to return to the site to remove scat tissue. In the process he tore my dura. He repaired it. within a few days it started to leak and then it totally blew out. I told him that perhaps it was during a bad coughing spell. I tried to reach him for about a week, leaving messages that my condition was serious. I was constantly vomiting, could not be near light, and the headaches were torture. I lost about 40 pounds. I had an appointment at my pain clinic and when I went the Dr. made me promise to call my neurosurgeon before I left the hospital, in case he wanted to keep me there. I still did not get a response. I was helped with a wheelchair to the car, where the attendant had to watch me vomit for 5 minutes before i could get into the car. Finally I heard from my neurosurgeon about 3-4 days later who said to me.....'oh, I didn't know you were that bad.' I was readmitted into the hospital at the first opening and the dura was again repaired. within a few monthes I had grown a fistula in the same place that measurered about 3.5x9.5 cm. This brought back the headaches and some vomiting. It was removed by a different surgeon august 15th of this year. Prior to that surgery I told my neurosugeon that from what I had read everything was leading to arachnoiditis. He told me at that point, yes, that my last mri had shown it. I was never told before I asked. Now, I have adhesive anachroiditis, am in severe pain, many meds, and will never get better, but maybe worse. I will never work again, and am told the only thing to do now is work on pain control along with visits to the neuropsychologist. Do you think I have a case here?

[Balfour]

Sorry that you have gone through all of that. The medical issues are far too complex for me to be able to give you a valuable opinion.  My advice is that you retrieve all of your medical records and then make an appointment with an experienced medical malpractice attorney. The attorney, if interested in the case, will have another neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon review the entire case and then you will get an opinion whether there was malpractice or not. If you already have the records and are willing to pay for the outside medical review, I think you will be able to find an attorney interested in pursuing it. Good luck.