had a screw fall out 3 wks after surgery.help
 

I had cervical fusion done 4 wks ago.after the 3rd week one of the svrews fell completly out of the plate and i was admitted for a second spinal fusion surgery.
Stayed in the hospital for 6 days and am now home.

What do i do to report this.....lawsuit or contact fda.
I have the hardware doc gave it to me......but i am clueless as to whom is responsible for what happened

Do you have ANY idea what caused this? Did the screw break or did it just fall out?

It might be difficult to do anything about this, since I doubt that your surgeon will admit to any "wrongdoing" if that's the cause. If it just "fell out" I would have to assume that it wasn't put in properly -- but you know what happens when you assume! :eek:

You could ask the surgeon for your records -- especially if you're going to see another surgeon. But chances are it won't say anything about the incident -- or he'll remove it.

Wish I could help. I hope you heal quickly! Best of luck & God bless. Hugs, Lee

That's a tough one, because not all mishaps are mistakes, and not all mistakes constitute malpractice. It may turn out that no-one is responsible.

I am not a lawyer. (I haven't even played one on T.V.)

As far as a lawsuit goes, you could probably get a free consult with a medical malpractice atty. who, if s/he took the case, might do it on a contingency basis (and in all likelihood there would be a settlement sealed by the court, and no wrongdoing ever admitted by the doctor or hospital, and you would be legally prohibited by court order from ever talking about the case).

A lawsuit will depend on two things:
1. The facts - was it in fact malpractice (e.g. something that could have been prevented), or just one of those unpredictable risks of surgery?
2. Damages - are you worse off now than you were before, and if so, how much worse off? If by chance you wind up being better than before, then there really are no damages other than the inconvenience of the second surgery (that's how the defense counsel will put it). If you are worse, you will have to be able to prove both that you are, and how much worse.

Now, just for the sake of discussion.... let's spoze for a moment that you're a neurosurgeon, and a patient comes to you requiring surgery, and you know that this patient has sued another surgeon for malpractice. Would you want to operate on that patient, or pass him/her along to someone else? Something to consider for the far-off future.

Now for the record, I'm on your side here. I understand that right now you're mad as cuss, and you want someone to be accountable for what's happened. The problem comes, as it does in any legal action, in establishing (proving) your case.

Everything depends on the provable facts.

As for reporting it to some oversight body, I don't know if that would be the FDA or the medical board of your state, or some other entity. An attorney in your state would know for sure.

I just did a quick google of "reporting surgical malpractice" (with and without quotes) and there appears to be a lot of information out there - much of it written by malpractice lawyers. You might try that kind of search, and include your state in the search criteria.

Best of luck and healing!

Doc