Facts

Plaintiff patient is a 41-year-old female, married to her husband of over 15 years, and is a mother of two young children, ages 5 and 2.

On June 27, 2021, at the age of 38-years-old, the patient was 34 weeks pregnant with her second child and began having contractions and presented to defendant hospital and was admitted for labor and delivery. On the morning of June 28, 2021, the patient was given Pitocin and she elected to undergo a spinal epidural for pain management, which she had not done with her previous delivery.

Around 5:45 a.m. on the morning of June 28, 2021, defendant anesthesiologist came in to administer a spinal epidural. The doctor had the patient sit on the edge of her hospital bed and lean over. The doctor proceeded with performing a combined spinal epidural and the patient immediately felt an electric shock and jolt into her left vaginal area, groin, and buttocks and she screamed out in pain. The doctor walked around to the edge of the bed and tested the sensation in the patient's left thigh and said that she was going to proceed again with the spinal epidural. The doctor attempted the spinal epidural a second time and, once again, the patient immediately felt a severe electric shock down her left leg and left vagina, which radiated into her left pinky toe. As the patient progressed with labor, she felt no pain relief from the spinal epidural, with the pain from her contractions being equivalent to that of her previous labor without a spinal epidural.

Given the nature and extent of the patient's complaints of pain, she underwent an urgent MRI on the morning of June 29, 2021. The MRI revealed an edema-like signal on the left side of the conus medullaris. The patient was discharged from the hospital on July 4, 2021 and followed up with a neurologist and a pain management specialist and underwent extensive physical therapy and psychotherapy. The patient was ultimately left with chronic neuropathic pain involving her left perineum and left foot, sensory deficits of her left buttock and posterior thigh, chronic discogenic lower back pain, left L5, S1, S2, S3, and S4 radiculopathy, intervertebral disc desiccation and annular fissure at the level of L4-5, and chronic pain syndrome associated with anxiety and depression.

The patient's care providers recommended that she continue treating with an interventional pain specialist, physiatrist, orthopedic spine specialist or neurosurgeon, and a neurologist and to continue with physical therapy and psychology services and undergo a Ketamine trial and ongoing treatment to explore the extent of symptom relief. Absent satisfactory relief from Ketamine, the recommendation is to proceed with a spinal cord stimulator or a dorsal root ganglion stimulator.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that the doctor's care and treatment fell below the standard of care in that she performed the combined spinal epidural at too high of a level, specifically the L1 level, causing significant injury to the patient's conus medullaris.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendants contested liability and contended that the doctor's care complied with the standard of care at all times and did not cause any injury to plaintiffs.

Damages

Plaintiff's husband asserted an accompanying claim for Loss of Consortium.

Result

The parties mediated the case with Gerald E. Agnew, Esq. and the case settled at mediation for $1,950,000.