Garcia & Artigliere attorneys Stephen M. Garcia and Matthew M. Coman obtained an $860,000 settlement from a Kentucky hospital on behalf of the Plaintiff whose deceased mother suffered from a botched surgery to repair her fractured left femur, resulting in an unjustified above knee amputation as well as an additional surgery and ongoing pain and complications.
The Complaint alleged that prior to the patient’s initial surgery in March 2016, the Defendant surgeon began to onboard products at the hospital and failed to disclose to the patient that he benefited financially by utilizing certain surgical products and implants. In fact, before the surgeon’s employment at the hospital, the orthopedic company did not sell any products to the hospital and the surgeon arranged for his wife to take over as the sales representative for the orthopedic company ‘s product at the hospital despite her having no experience selling orthopedic equipment. Even though the hospital was aware of this improper financial arrangement which violated the hospital’s Code of Conduct, management failed to prohibit the surgeon from benefiting in this scheme.
Further, that in addition to committing fraud, the surgeon deviated from the standard of care and caused further injury to the patient when he elected to use the orthopedic company plate instead of a femoral nail which would have provided fixation to the entire femur fracture, and he also failed to appropriately align the plate with the entirety of the fracture. The surgeon’s negligence exposed the patient to a high risk of femoral neck fracture, which ultimately occurred six months later. The resulting neck fracture required the patient to undergo a partial hip replacement performed by a second surgeon at the hospital. The patient continued to experience unnecessary pain and suffering until her death.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical negligence, contact our attorneys at (800) 281-8515 for a free case consultation.