Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Confidential

Type of Case: Failure to diagnose vascular injury related to broken leg

Attorney: Jonathan L. Thornton, Norfolk

Summary: The 15-year-old plaintiff hyperextended his knee while playing basketball and sustained a markedly displaced tibial-fibular fracture.

The defendant orthopedist placed the leg in a cast but did not request a vascular consultation until 20 days after the injury, despite complaints by plaintiff of pain in his shin and numbness in his foot.

An examination disclosed a completely transected popliteal artery that had caused the death of muscle nerves and tissue.

Plaintiff underwent several procedures to have the dead material removed and to restore full function to the leg. Despite those efforts, he has a permanent foot drop from damage to a nerve in the leg.

His experts testified that the nature of the injury and his complaints of pain required a vascular consultation within the first 12 hours of treatment. He would have made a full recovery with prompt treatment, the experts said.

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