On February 20, 2014, Plaintiff was traveling down Albany Post Road and was near the intersection at Sleepy Hollow Road in Briarcliff Manor, New York, at the time of the accident. Defendant made a wide right turn, cutting off the lane to the right. As a result, the plaintiff crashed into the defendant.
Following the accident, EMS arrived at the scene. She was ambulatory at the scene of the collision. The EMS personnel examined her for the complaint of pain in her coccyx. Her blood pressure was noted to be 140/100 and her respiratory rate was 18. Her Glasgow Coma
Scale was rated to be 15. She was noted to have numbness in her left arm and pain in her coccyx. The plaintiff was then taken to the hospital for further evaluation.
Upon arrival at the hospital, the plaintiff had complaints of low back pain and numbness in her lower leg. After undergoing a variety of examinations and screenings, the plaintiff was discharged back to her home.
The following day, Plaintiff had gone to see a doctor, reporting severe stiffness when turning her neck, extreme pain when bending, limited range of motion, and back spasms. She was then diagnosed with cervical strain, cervical radiculitis, and myofascial pain. Plaintiff was instructed to wear a cervical soft collar, prescribed medication, and to undergo physical therapy with home exercises.
On April 3, 2014, plaintiff underwent an MRI of her lumbar spine that revealed the following findings: Right lateral disc herniation at L4-L5; straightening of the lumbar lordosis and tubular cystic structure in the region of right adnexa. On the same day, she underwent an MRI of her cervical spine, which revealed the following findings: reversal of the normal lordosis of the cervical spine; mild central disc protrusion indenting the thecal sac at C3-C4; mild to moderate central disc protrusion extending both cranially and caudally, which was indenting and impinging the spinal cord at C4-C5; mild to moderate central disc protrusion with cranial extension at C5-C6 impinging and deforming the anterior aspect of the spinal cord.
On April 24, 2014, the plaintiff had trigger point injections to the four tender points along the trapezius on both sides. On May 19, 2014, plaintiff received cervical transforaminal epidural injection to the left at C4-5 and C5-6 levels. On June 9, 2014, plaintiff had cervical transforaminal epidural injection for cervical radiculopathy to the right at C6-7 level.
On August 21, 2015, plaintiff underwent an MRI of her cervical pain, which revealed the following findings: Central disc herniation and mild grade I anterolisthesis at the C4 and C5 levels, and central disc herniation/cephalad; disc extrusion at the C5-C6 level; mild spinal cord effacement, concentric/asymmetric disc bulge (right greater than left) at the C6 and C7 levels, mild spinal cord effacement; shallow central disc herniation at the C7-T1 level; Shallow central/left paramedian disc herniation at the C3-C4 level; multilevel bilateral neuroforaminal narrowing greatest on the right at the C6-C7 level and reversal of the normal cervical lordosis. As a result of these findings, she was recommended to undergo anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6-C7 levels.
On April 19, 2016, plaintiff was examined and diagnosed with the following: cervical spine tenderness over the C3-7; paraspinal tenderness over both sides of her neck; decreased range of motion of her neck while bending to the right by 20%, bending to the left by 20%, rotation to the right by 20%, rotation to the left by 20%; Spurling was positive on the right and left; S decreased sensation in the right at C5, C6, C7 and on the left at C5, C6 and C7. On May, 04, 2016, Ms. Jordan-Covert received interlaminar epidural steroid injection at C7/T1 on the left.
On July 12, 2016, plaintiff underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6 C7 levels and anterior placement of cage biomechanical device in the disk spaces at C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6-C7 levels. She did well postoperatively. Around two weeks later, plaintiff was certified that she was 100% totally disabled from work.
The plaintiff sued the defendant for negligence, and the case settled for $850,000.00.
