Personal Injury Law

Athlete who Lost Legs to Disease Sues Hospitals and Doctors

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

A former student athlete and his parents have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against his doctors and hospitals nearly a year after a flesh-eating bacterium led to the amputation of his legs. The medical malpractice lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $25,000 and was filed against more than 15 doctors, their companies and two hospitals. The young athlete was a captain of the rowing team last year when he felt pain in his lower calf muscle. This sent him to the emergency room where doctors diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis which is a rare strep infection. He was on life support four days later and flown to a medical center. Doctors had to amputee both his legs above the knee and he was given less than a 20 percent chance of survival. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that his care fell below accepted medical standards and that his parents were not properly informed of a treatment plan. To learn more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on January 12, 2010 (boomark / email).