Question In Janurary of 2006 I had ACL Reconstruction where they took out my hamstring and used it to replace my torn ACL in my right knee. The doctor did the orthoscopic and surgery at the same time so I would not have to go twice. I did everything as instructed to do. I wore the braces as instructed. I went to all of my physical therapy appointments and did as I was instructed with that. It is now October of "09 and I have a bone that is buldging in my knee. It gives out on me and hurts really bad. I went to my doctor and he sent me for x-rays. I saw a commercial one day for a lawyer that deals with this because there was something about the screw that was being used for this surgery. I don't know what kind of screw the doctor used on my knee and if this is causing my problem. What advice can you give me on this situation? What can I do about it?
Answer I hope your statute of limitations has not expired. Go see a malpractice lawyer and ask him. The statute varies from state to state, so you may be all right. I am unclear about the use of your hamstring. Did he use a portion of it or all of it for this surgery? I can't believe that he removed that major tendon for a knee repair. Sounds kind of ambitious to me. Whether the screw is important in your surgery I do not know, but a 'bone' causes a bulge in your knee. And it still bothers you after 3 years? That is not right. Go see a lawyer. When I say see a lawyer, I mean one out of your County. Orthopedists and lawyers tee off together on Thursdays. Let a lawyer decide what is next. It sounds as if you have a lawsuit.
I see you may have an email from Jeff. Jeff is an orthopedist who takes issue with what I post. He is a little behind things. I ran a research of European articles about ham string use for grafts while doing a repair of the ACL. Europeans are divided about equally in the use of ham string grafts and other methods. One of their findings is that injuries such as yours are more commonly found in hamstring grafts. Now these papers were all written in the years from about 2006. In my work I always preferred to explore European studies more than those in the USA for several reasons. Anyway, if my friend Jeff has not done recent research beyond a few papers in the US Journals, he will be out of touch. Now, he may be right. I did say I was unsure about hamstring injuries in my original answer. That fact is that you will not know how you became injured, and even if you win a lawsuit, the experts may still be divided. Malpractice is the result of negligence and often the actual cause (negligence) is never found in trial. All the jury can do is to decide if negligence occurred. In your case I think that will be their findings. Or maybe you will be 'defensed' or lose your case. That still does not prove anything except that the jury could not find negligence they could relate to your injury.
Poor Jeff. He does not understand much about malpractice trials. And perhaps never will. I have worked for over 100 lawyers in various parts of the country for more than fifty years now. I have polled many juries to learn what they thought during the trial. I think I may understand malpractice lawsuits a little better than Jeff. I am sure he is a decent fellow, but he is an MD. MDs are universally unable to synthesize in their thinking. Deduce yes. But that's all.
Well, you have to find a lawyer you can work with. If you are lucky the lawyer will have neurologists and neurosurgeons as well as orthopedists who may be able to help you. That is your goal, I am sure. Good luck.
