Although a man's son was treated in the same hospital of a strain of the same infection and recovered, the father's misdiagnosis resulted in the loss of all four of his limbs and a medical malpractice lawsuit, as reported by the Sacramento Bee.
R.D. suffered with methicillin-sensitive staphylococcus aureus, known as the MSSA infection. His son suffered with MRSA, a cousin of the infection, and was effectively treated with intravenous antibiotic injections at Sutter Memorial Hospital weeks before his father was struck ill.
Had Sutter Memorial diagnosed R.D. as swiftly as they did his son, according to the lawsuit, he would not have to loose his arms and legs.
Attorney Moseley Collins is representing R.D. in the lawsuit naming Sutter Health as the defendant. Collins stated that they hope that filing the lawsuit will "warn hospitals not to let this happen in their emergency room" by taking responsibility for their medical errors.
The spokesman for Sutter Health, Gary Zavoral, would not issue a comment on the lawsuit.
R.D., 48, was a 20-year veteran in law enforcement, then worked as a car salesman in Folsom and, just prior to his amputations, had assisted his wife in a respite care service she operated.
According to R.D., during the summer of 2011 their 11 year-old son had a sore treated at Sutter Memorial. Tests revealed that the boy had been infected with MRSA and a treatment plan of intravenously injected antibiotics restored his health without complications.
A few short weeks later R.D. developed a similar sore, however, when he went in for treatment at Sutter Memorial – and saw the same physician's assistant that remembered treating his son – no culture was taken and the only antibiotics he was given were oral instead of intravenous.
R.D. returned to the hospital, and the same physician's assistant a second time, but no changes were made to his diagnosis or treatment. By the third visit R.D. began experiencing extreme shoulder pain and was told that it was unrelated to his original complaint.
On July 20, two days following that third hospital visit, R.D. collapsed in his home. He was taken to Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael and underwent his first amputation. Later, doctors would remove all four of R.D.'s extremities. As R.D. was in a coma his wife, C.D., made the decision to amputate.
R.D. is currently in rehabilitation therapy and has been fitted with what he calls "claws" for hands. Fittings for prosthetic legs are planned for the future.
It has been approximately one year since R.D.'s amputations. C.D. has since had to close her respire care business, as she is needed to assist her husband with round-the-clock care. The couple has seven children between them, aged 7 to 26.
R.D.'s most troublesome issue is that he suddenly has to have others assist him with almost everything that he has to do. R.D. commented, "My mind hasn't caught up with my body. My mind needs to catch up with my body so I can be at ease."
Being harmed instead of helped while in a hospital is grounds for a lawsuit. Click here to contact a medical malpractice attorney near you today!