Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Claims Inadequate Care Led to Leg Amputation
The wife of a man whose leg had to be amputated because a fracture wasn’t treated for over two months has filed an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit against Mobilex USA, Covenant Care, and two doctors. Myrna Ambuehl is the attorney-in-fact for her husband Roland Ambuehl.
According to her Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, Roland fell from his bed and sustained a femoral fracture to his left leg on June 3, 2007. He reportedly told workers at Highland Health Care Center that he was experiencing pain in his left knee and leg following the fall accident. Highland retained Mobilex USA to conduct x-rays of Roland’s knee and pelvis.
Mobilex USA doctors Elliot Wagner and Donald Lanese examined the X-rays and said that there were no fractures. After their diagnoses, Roland still felt pain in his left knee, which started to swell. Myrna’s medical malpractice lawsuit contends that despite his symptoms, workers at the center still made him undergo physical therapy and take part in other physical activities, including exercise.
Highland asked Mobilex to take more images of Roland’s leg on June 21, 2007. Lanese examined the images and didn’t see a fracture. Roland continued with the care and rehabilitation plan the center had designed for him despite the pain and swelling. In August, Myrna asked for an orthopedic surgeon to look at her husband’s knee. Instead, Highland asked Mobilex to take more X-rays. Lanese again looked at the images and didn’t see a fracture.
It was at this time that Dr. Scott Halvorson, who is Roland’s treating physician, examined him and determined that the patient’s left femur was fractured. The condition of his leg was so bad because it had gone untreated for so long that Roland had to have his knee amputated in August 2007. Myrna’s Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit seeks a judgment of over $250,000 plus other costs and relief.
Delayed Diagnosis
Delayed diagnosis or wrong diagnosis can be detrimental to a patient’s condition and can lead to medical procedures and treatments that could otherwise have been avoided if a physician had made the correct diagnosis sooner. Delayed/wrong diagnosis is a breach of the medical provider’s care responsibilities to a patient.
Fractured leg untreated for three months had to be amputated, suit claims, The Record, June 3, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Delayed Diagnosis, WrongDiagnosis.com
