Most of the time when someone goes into a New York hospital with a minor issue, it stays a minor issue. The doctors at the hospital are able to treat the ailment and send the patient home with follow up instructions. But once in a while, for one reason or another, a seemingly minor injury can snowball into something that is very debilitating or even disabling.
A recent lawsuit filed in another state concerns just this very scenario. A woman came into the hospital after a cat bit her. She was apparently taking care of her sister-in-law’s cat when the feline got into a fight with a stray cat. The 41-year-old woman got in the middle of it and was bitten on the forearm, hand and thumb.
The woman initially cleaned the wounds but eventually noticed an infection. She went to a local hospital after she noticed abscesses on her wrist. She returned to the hospital several times after that and doctors referred her to a hand surgeon and gave her antibiotics.
The woman had several appointments with the hand surgeon and eventually took her records from those visits, which showed “lesions on the bones of her hands.” She then went to the emergency room with complications and waited there for 12 hours. She was eventually admitted for treatment of acute renal failure, osteomyelitis, anemia and rashes. Thankfully the infectious disease unit was able to save her arm, she said.
The woman is filing a lawsuit against a handful of physicians and other entities. She said their negligence in treating her ailments and in providing her proper discharge orders resulted in disability, weakness, and severe pain.
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