Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Michigan

I went into the hospital on April 20 2013 with severe back pain. I also had a hard time breathing and tightness in my chest. Right away they thought cardiac and admitted me into the hospital. All tests came back clear as far as the cardiac issue. Since I was in there they decided to do an MRI to see if there was any damage done structurally to my back and spine. This was done late Saturday morning. On Sunday morning the Doctor came in to let me know that he was still waiting for the report. Later that day he came back and said the I had a few disk issues and a small tear, but nothing that would require surgery. He also said that there was no medical reason to be in the hospital. Having received pain medicine I was glad to be going home. As we were walking out we met the nurse that was going to go over the discharge instructions. She started by telling me what medicines that were given and which ones I needed to take. She finally got to a page that had some highlighted lines on it. She said that I could continue my physical therapy and that I needed to follow up and have a CT scan due to the mass they found on my kidney. My wife and I were in shock since nothing was mentioned to us by the Doctor. I went on and had the CT scan which confirmed a 2.6 cm mass on my kidney. I ended up having surgery to remove the mass on May 20th. When I contacted the hospital about this I was told the Doctor did not recall the conversation and that he usually doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to upset the patient. I'm upset that it was left up to the nurse to tell us and had she not, I would have never known and had it removed. Is there any recourse?


Asked on 6/02/13, 3:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Stern William Stern, P.C.

There is no recourse within the legal system. A malpractice case involves the investment of tens of thousands of dollars for experts and other costs. It involves countless hours of the lawyers life and a great deal of skill to pursue a matter. That means that the case must have the potential of receiving a large jury verdict. Otherwise, the lawyers would go broke and could not help anyone else. This case would not result in a large enough or any verdict.

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Answered on 6/02/13, 6:58 pm


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