A traumatic injury such as a broken bone can cause problems for many years after the fact, even if the original injury at first seemed to heal properly. This is why you have probably heard your grandparents complain about pain in body parts that they injured long before you were born; if you are lucky, the story of the original injury is sufficiently entertaining that telling it to you takes your grandparent’s mind off the pain. It is also why insurance companies often deny claims for treatment of chronic pain because they often have room to argue that the pain is simply due to aging or an old injury rather than the car accident or workplace mishap that led you to file the claim.
Whether an injury resolves or goes on to cause years of complications sometimes depends on the response of the doctors who treat the acute injury. Medical errors can turn a simple injury into one that causes a lifetime of trouble and many thousands of dollars in medical bills. If the doctors who treated your injury mismanaged your care and made things worse, contact a Santa Fe medical malpractice lawyer.
Doctors at UNM Hospital Removed and Incorrectly Replaced Cast on Girl’s Broken Leg
In 2018, a 7-year-old girl who was skiing with her family in Red River fell and injured her leg; her injuries included a broken tibia. The girl underwent treatment at Holy Cross Medical Center, where doctors set the broken bone and put her leg in a cast. The hospital then had her transferred to the University of New Mexico hospital, where the doctors removed her cast, reset the broken bone, and replaced the cast.
In their lawsuit, her family claims that the doctors at UNM should have left the cast alone and simply allowed the girl’s leg to heal. They claim that the resulting problems are because the UNM doctors put on the cast in a way that applied too much pressure to the girl’s lower leg and ankle. Because of the complications caused by the incorrectly applied cast, she has undergone several surgeries since the original injury, and she will probably need more surgeries in the future.
In 2024, the family and UNM hospital agreed to a settlement, and UNM paid the family $700,000 in damages; over her lifetime, the patient’s medical expenses related to the injury may exceed that amount. The reason that the settlement amount is not higher is because of the damages caps that were in place when the family filed the lawsuit. The maximum compensatory damages a family can receive in a medical malpractice case has increased incrementally over the past several years. For medical malpractice lawsuits filed today, the maximum damages award is $4 million.
Contact Slate Stern About Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured as a result of medical errors. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.
Sources
https://www.yahoo.com/news/girl-gets-700-000-settlement-045900517.html
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