Plaintiff was 69 years old and had a medical history of: atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), chronic liver disease, and hyperuricemia. Additionally, plaintiff had a prior hip replacement in both the left and right hip many years before the medical malpractice at hand occurred.
Plaintiff saw Defendant complaining of a four day history of perianal pain. Defendant diagnosed Plaintiff with a perirectal abscess on the right said. Plaintiff then underwent surgery performed by the defendant, which consisted of an incision and drainage of the perirectal abscess. Approximately 20 ml of purulent material was drained from the abscess cavity. Plaintiff was advised to do sitz baths with epsom salt twice a day. Additionally, Plaintiff was told to remove his packing in two days post-operation.
Following the procedure, the defendant did not send any specimen to pathology for testing, nor did the defendant prescribe any antibiotics, indicating clear medical malpractice. Additionally, Plaintiff had complained of bleeding post operatively, in addition to right hip and lateral leg pain over the area of his hip replacement. This pain indicates a clear infection of the hip at this time. However, he was told by Defendant it had nothing to do with the prior procedure.
About 5 months later, Plaintiff was finally diagnosed with a right hip infection. This is when Plaintiff’s right hip became aspirated and Bacteroides fragilis had grown. Bacteroides fragilis is an anaerobe and is found in perirectal abscesses when cultured. When diagnosed with the infection, the bacteria was indeed cultured as Bacteroides fragilis.
As a result of the aforementioned medical malpractice, the plaintiff developed a chronic infection of the right hip. A year after the medical malpractice occurred, Plaintiff had to undergo a right hip resection arthroplasty with insertion of antibiotic spacer. Three months later, Plaintiff underwent right hip revision, total hip arthroplasty, open treatment of acetabular fracture with cage and bone grafting – right pelvis and open treatment of proximal femoral fracture with plate and cables.
Had the defendant prescribed an antibiotic for the Plaintiff, these aforementioned permanent injuries would have never been sustained. The defendant’s position was that in a procedure such as this, there is no medical need to prescribe prophylactic antibiotics, and that its administration was not supported by the literature. The matter settled for an amount which we are not permitted to disclose
