Numbness and Complications After Surgery

**Noneyabusiness22** · 05-06-2012, 10:05 PM

My question involves medical malpractice in the state of: PA

In June 2010, I had surgery. My ex and I got into a fight and he ended up fracturing my jaw. I was told it was only a hairline fracture on my left side. At first, the ER doctor said I'd only need to eat soft foods for 3 weeks then come back to get it checked to see if it healed. Then another doctor came in and said it's best to wire my jaw shut for 2 weeks. Then the surgeon came in and said he needed to put a plate on my jaw or I'd pretty much die.

Well I went through the surgery. They put the plate on. I had some problems with it and ended up needing another surgery to correct it. They did some MRI's a week or 2 before the surgery. The did an MRI and xray before the first. Before the second surgery they said they thought they saw a second fracture on the other side on the original MRI. They decided to cut that side open as well during the surgery. There wasn't a fracture and they replaced the first plate to correct their errors.

I had a lot of problems again with the second plate. They refused to do another surgery or to even do another xray or MRI. To this day I still can't feel my lower lip, I can't smile right, I'm in a lot of pain, I need to get my wisdom teeth out but one of the screws from the plate might be in the way of the root so they might need to remove the plate all together(different oral surgeon.)

Should I look into getting a lawyer to sue them? If I didn't have so many problems I wouldn't care but I'm going to be missing a lot of work due to getting my plate removed and how much work I've missed from my jaw locking up because of it. I only have another 3 weeks to get things started.

**Dogmatique** · 05-06-2012, 10:15 PM

Go see a med-mal attorney immediately. You can obtain a copy of your records; if the attorney thinks you have a case it will (generally) be taken on a contingency basis.

**Conrad Hunter** · 05-13-2012, 10:38 PM

First, go see a medical malpractice attorney. Hope you prosecuted the scum and got a protection order. Then sue the scum for the damages together with punitive damages. If scum has nothing to sue for, what the hell were you doing with him? Never mind.

If there is a restitution order, perhaps you can get it modified to reflect the actual damages which could not have been known at the time of the criminal trial.

After tort reform, most states require the attorney to do an investigation into your claim, which includes getting your records and consulting professionals to determine the required level of care, etc. So the doctor and his insurance carrier will know this is happening right from jump street. If they know they screwed up they will often make an offer before a case is filed. It is a much bigger deal after an action commences.