Bridgeport, Connecticut Car Accident Attorney Hirsch Andrade, LLP Home
Chiropractic Malpractice Case Settles for $940,000
Our client began treating with a Connecticut chiropractor on September 16, 2014 with reports of back pain and fever. The chiropractor ordered lab work, which included an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The ESR results were elevated. According to our experts, given our client's history of back pain with intermittent fevers and the elevated ESR, the chiropractor should have referred our client for an emergent MRI of the spine to assess for a spinal infection, before performing chiropractic manipulations. Instead, the chiropractor treated our client with chiropractic manipulations over the course of six visits from September 17, 2014 until September 24, 2014.
On September 24, 2014, our client's last visit to the chiropractor, our client reported bilateral leg numbness, with an unsteady gait and he had a sensation of not having his feet underneath him. The next day, on September 25, 2014, our client presented to Waterbury Hospital emergency department reporting mid-abdominal numbness radiating down both legs. An MRI showed discitis at T6-T7 with an epidural abscess compressing the spinal cord. On September 26, 2014, our client underwent thoracic spine surgery, T6-T7 laminectomy, evacuation of anterior spinal abscess and a T4-T9 posterior lateral fusion. The surgery was followed by months of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation therapy; initially our client was unable to walk. Our client, who was 50 years old at the time and employed by an aircraft manufacturer for approximately 27 years, was unable to work for a year and five months following the surgery. Today, our client can walk independently and has returned to his full-time job.
Our client and his spouse filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut chiropractic and his practice. The chiropractor denied negligence and claimed that our client was negligent, and that our client's actions contributed to his alleged injuries or damages he claimed.
In May 2018, prior to the start of trial, we settled this matter for $940,000.
