Infection - From Where?

[Drake]

Hello Glenn!

After telling people about my most recent surgery, it seemed everyone was unanimous in raising an eyebrow. I was scheduled for a spinal fusion early this year, after several recurring disk herniations. When they went in this time, after clearing out the remaining disk fragments, they found a staff(spelling?) infection. Nobody really told me why it was there... it wasn't picked up on earlier MRI/scans because it was 'too small' I was told. But a part of me(and everyone I talk to) thinks that this infection was caused by some sort of negligence on the hospital's/doctor's part. Perhaps an un-sterile environment and/or instruments, I don't know. But this infection has caused me much stress, and 2 months of missed work while on home IV antibiotics. After the surgery I had to stay in the hospital for a week, and was treated horribly by the nursing staff(that's another story all on it's own!). 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital, I went back in for another week due to excruciating spasming pain, which was said to have come from a fluid build up. This ordeal should've been over long ago, but it's been extended and my life has to be put on hold. I am in danger of loosing my job, which in this economy is extremely difficult to overcome.

Any advice would be appreciated. This is the first I've reached out to anyone about this - I'm currently in a state of confusion about the issue, and I do not want to make a stink with anyone unless its warranted.

Thanks for your time in advance, looking forward to hearing from you!

ANSWER: I will offer my comments but the bottom line is, there will not be a viable malpractice case to pursue.  Staph infections(you probably have MRSA which you can google) have for many years become almost endemic in hospitals. That means, it happens all the time. Severe cases result in amputations, death, awful stuff.  Until the last year or so, there was nothing to do about it legally unless you could indeed find evidence of an improperly sterized instrument or the like, and that was almost never possible. To sue for medical malpractice there must be evidence that the medical care was "below the standard of care" and the cause of the injury. A MRSA infection was thought to be virtually unpreventable and therefore when someone got it, it was not "below the standard of care".  A case last year(I forget the name of it but you can goodle "MRSA malpractice" to find it) and in that case, the plaintiff have a severe case and won, with the experts on his side saying that MRSA is preventable and should never happen. That might have opened the door on thousands of cases like yours.  However, such a case would require the best lawyers willing to spend a fortune on experts and willing to go to trial. Such a case would never settle at this stage in the evolution of the new standards of care and since you infection fortunately is not life threatening or permanently disabiling, the damages just aren't high enough to make it a viable case. I know this sounds cruel but those are the facts of life. I don't know where the infection came from nor do you. It might have been from your own skin. 30% of hospital patients come into the hospital with it. See the problem? Check out that case. Best of luck.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

Hello again Glenn!

I'd firstly like to thank you for such a prompt response! I was assuming I would probably never hear from anyone, and here you are replying within hours - thank you.

The staph infection was in my disk space in the spine. In my opinion - and correct me if I'm wrong - it couldn't have come from anywhere except for during surgery, when I was opened up. This would lead me to believe that proving that it was the hospital/surgeon would be easier, based on where the infection occured. But I see what you're saying about staph infections in general. And indeed that stinks! But I will live with it I guess. If I had a separate question, about the way I was treated by the nursing staff during my hospital stay, would that need a separate 'question' on here? To summarize, there were frequent times where I had to wait up to 2 hours for my pain meds, and was screaming/crying in bed waiting... while pushing the buzzer/nurse-call button repeatedly only to be hung up on. It was a very horrible experience. Thanks for your time again!

[Greg]

So what do you think can be done about poor nursing? Sue the hospital for millions? I think you know the answer. Depending on many factors, thousands of patients right now are enduring the same thing. Just be glad you are out of there.  Hopefully all signs of the infection will eventually clear. They almost always do.