Can I sue a hospital after 5 months later due to a for misdiagnosis of a torn ACL?
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Can I sue a hospital after 5 months later due to a for misdiagnosis of a torn ACL?
I tore my ACL and so ight after practice I went to the ER after being unable to walk on it. After telling them I couldn’t walk and my other sympotoms, they told me that “it’s a strain or sprain or something else”. They then sent me out of the hospital without a brace or crutches; I was in extreme pain. After a week of trying to walk on it, I was finally advised by my coach to go to an orthopedic doctor. He pulled up my X-rays from the ER and there was clearly a tear to my ACL. After an MRI they discovered that I tore almost all my ligaments. I have no idea if this was from the original injury or trying to walk on it. Do I have a case?
Asked on April 2, 2013 under Malpractice Law, Indiana
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
You can sue the hospital for negligence. Negligence is the failure to exercise due care (that degree of care that a reasonable hospital would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm).
Prior to filing a lawsuit for negligence against the hospital, it may be possible to settle the case with the hospital's insurance carrier. Notify the hospital's insurance carrier that you will be filing a malpractice claim. Malpractice is negligence. When you complete your medical treatment and are released by the orthopedist or are declared by the orthopedist to be permanent and stationary, which means having reached a point in your medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, obtain your medical bills, medical reports (especially the report from the orthopedist), and if applicable, documentation of any wage loss. Your claim filed with the hospital's insurance carrier should include these items. Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports will document the nature and extent of your injury and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering, which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement.
If the case is settled with the hospital's insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed. If you are dissatisfied with settlement offers from the hospital's insurance carrier, reject the settlement offers and file a lawsuit for negligence against the hospital. If the case is NOT settled with the hospital's insurance carrier, you will need to file your lawsuit for negligence against the hospital prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or you will lose your rights forever in the matter.
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