Medical Malpractice in Orthopedics

Medical malpractice in the field of orthopedics is, unfortunately, a common phenomenon in everyday life, especially when it involves injuries to children.

We have all heard of the following routine situation: a child runs in the school yard, trips and breaks his arm. The child is taken to a health fund doctor or, in the best case, to the emergency room, where a decision is made to cast the arm only, without any recommendation for surgical intervention to correct the problematic condition. Sometimes it is not a fracture or suspected fracture, but rather other complaints regarding localized heat in one of the limbs accompanied by pain, findings that require thorough investigation for the existence and diagnosis of a dangerous infectious or inflammatory process.

In many cases, the investigation of medical malpractice therefore revolves around the following questions:

Was the orthopedic problem diagnosed in a timely manner as required, that is, was the existence of a fracture or infectious/inflammatory process diagnosed.

Was a decision made to take the medical procedure necessitated by the diagnosis of the orthopedic problem, that is, was a decision made to perform urgent surgery to restore and repair the fracture, was the necessary treatment given to suppress the infectious/inflammatory process before it erupts and causes serious damage.

Was a correct assessment made regarding the need to perform urgent orthopedic surgery.

When it involves injuries to children, was there proper and required consultation with a specialist in pediatric orthopedics and not only with a general orthopedist, due to the unique characteristics of the skeletal and bone system in children.

From our extensive experience in handling these lawsuits, we have found that very often the process of diagnosing the orthopedic problem is deficient, conducted sluggishly, while avoiding the performance of extremely urgent actions. In a wide variety of injuries, surgical intervention within a very short period of time is an essential condition for the chances of success in restoring the injured limb to full function. Delay in providing the required treatment, including surgery, may cause irreversible injury and the need for a series of complex and complicated surgeries whose chances of success are very low, if at all.

It should be remembered that many injuries in the field of orthopedics arrive for initial diagnosis at a family doctor at a health fund branch close to the injured person's home or to the school where the injury occurred. The family doctor is not expected to arrive at an accurate professional diagnosis himself (especially if it is a complicated diagnosis), but is required to urgently refer a case that is not sufficiently clear to him to a specialist in the field of orthopedics or to a pediatric orthopedist.

In this context, it has been ruled more than once that the family doctor is required to actively verify that the referral to the specialist doctor in the field of orthopedics is carried out properly and within a short time, and he should not rely too heavily on the questionable assumption that the patient will do everything required of him quickly and without delay.

At the same time, it should be remembered that in many cases even immediate surgical intervention will not achieve the maximum result of complete healing and repair of the orthopedic injury, due to the severity of the underlying injury. In these cases, the plaintiff will be entitled to proportional compensation for the injury to the chances of recovery, and the defense argument that in any case his condition due to the underlying injury was beyond repair will not be heard.

As in other fields of medicine, great importance is attached to meticulous and thorough study of the medical records and consultation with a reputable medical expert who will express his opinion both regarding the diagnosis process and regarding the manner of performing the surgery/treatment required.