Infection After Surgery

[Haig]

I will try to keep this as short as possible. I had Tarsal Tunnel surgery on my foot in May of this year. In July, the surgeon opened me back up again to remove the build up of scar tissue. Soon after the stitches were removed I started bleeding bad one night and noticed the incision had opened halfway. We notified the surgeon but he said nothing to worry about. I went to see him soon afterwards expecting him to close the incision. He did not close it. Said it was healing just fine. Taped it up and said see you in 2 weeks. I kept every single appointment and complained everytime I saw him. He said things were going great. It then got infected. I went back and he commented that he gave me prescript for antibiotics at time of surgery. He did not. He brought up my records and said he did. I went back and discovered the antibiotics I had gotten in August were from my primary doc for my asthma. Not the surgeon. Anyway, I took all those antibiotics and still got infection on incision. The surgeon gave me another prescript for more antibiotics and even though I took all of them, my infection got worse. I went to my primary doc and he took a swab of the area and sent it off to the Labs. He also gave me a name of another Podiatrist to go get a second opinion. That new doctor cleaned me up and said I no longer have an open incision. I now have a wound and ulcer. He sent me to have Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments. I have completed 5 treatments and have 15 more authorized with more if needed. Today I asked the doctor there when I could go back to work. He said no time soon. I am not healing. I am miserable and am in so much pain. I have lost wages since I had to leave work, unable to walk. I cannot even clean my house not to mention cooking dinner. It has brought my life to a total stop with no end in sight. Do you think I might have a case? I hate the thought of suing. Even though I have health insurance(HMO), there are the copays that are going to add up big time and I need help.

[Duggan]

Becky,

Based on the facts you submitted, it is hard to say that you definitely have a case, although, other experts on this site may disagree.

First of all, you need to find out what type of infection was present and specifically the type of bacteria.  If it was a staph infection, that is a common infection in hospitals.  Some infections are due to instruments that were not cleaned properly(malpractice) or other bacteria that is present in conditions in which there are millions of infectious diseases(not necessarily malpractice).

If the infection developed from an open source, it may be malpractice.  However, it is more likely the infection caused the incision to open.

The second issue is whether the podiatrist treated the open incision properly.  Most likely, he felt he could not close the incision because that would lead to a breeding ground of more infection(not malpractice).  However, he should have prescribed a very strong antibiotic along with wound care instructions or prescribe home health care to have it cleaned out(potential malpractice).

I strongly suggest you contact a medical malpractice attorney in your area to discuss this matter.  It sounds like further investigation should be conducted.

In the meantime, I am sorry you are continuing to suffer as a result of what is perceived as a lack of proper care.

Very truly yours,

Paul D. Friedman, M.A., Ph.D., J.D.