$3.1MDelayed diagnosis resulted in permanent nerve damage

Our client, a 41-year-old warehouse supervisor, went to an emergency department with progressive weakness in both legs and difficulty urinating. He was assessed as having a lumbar strain, given an anti-inflammatory, and discharged after three hours without imaging.

He returned by ambulance thirty-one hours later unable to walk. An MRI showed cauda equina syndrome from a large disc herniation. The decompression came too late to reverse the damage.

Two board-certified experts — an emergency physician and a spine surgeon — reviewed the complete chart. Both concluded that the presenting symptoms were textbook red flags requiring urgent imaging, and that the standard of care called for an MRI on the first visit.

The triage note recorded the urinary symptoms in the client’s own words. The physician’s note did not mention them. We built the case on that gap and retained a life care planner to price four decades of catheterisation, mobility equipment, and home modification.

The hospital’s carrier disputed causation until our surgeon was deposed on the window in which decompression would have preserved function. The claim resolved at mediation for $3.1 million before suit was set for trial.

The recovery funds his lifetime care plan and the household support he now requires. He has permanent bladder dysfunction and walks short distances with a walker.