Medical Malpractice: Verdicts, Settlements, and Experts

Post-TKR Fall Results in Death a Month after Surgery

-Undisclosed North Carolina Settlement.

We tender our thanks to plaintiff’s counsel, Charles Rawlings for the report of this case. Plaintiff’s decedent underwent total knee replacement on March 23, 2017, and began recovery in stable condition. While undergoing physical therapy at the hospital on March 26, decedent fell. The surgeon was made aware of the fall. Unfortunately, before an examination could be conducted, decedent fell a second time, severely damaging the surgically repaired knee. Decedent was taken to the OR where the surgeon found a dislocated, fractured patella, a quadriceps rupture, and a large surrounding hematoma. The knee was repairs, a wound VAC placed, and decedent was transferred to ICU. Two days later a drug regime of Ativan, Precedex, and Librium was instituted. As a result of being over-medicated, decedent suffered a PEA arrest which required CPR and intubation. Following this incident, decedent’s health deteriorated rapidly. He developed acute kidney failure due to the extensive antibiotic regime treating a staphylococcus infection in the knee. He died April 17.

The case settled for an undisclosed sum in March 2019.