Staph Infection After Knee Replacement

[hagalean]

My husband had bi-lateral knee replacement on May 21.  Towards the end of June, ONE knee became infected.  This particular knee had a very sloppy seam when it was closed after the operation.  He informed the doctor that the knee was causing him severe discomfort, and he was given Keflex.  After 4 days, the surgeon's office called and informed me that I needed to get my husband to the hospital.  By this time, my husband was delirious from infection & pain killers.  He spent 10 days in the hospital the second time.  One July 6, 2007 the knee was be removed.  We have a third surgery scheduled for 9/17 to replace the knee.  At this time, he has no knee, he can not walk, or drive, or work.  I spend most of what once was free time taking care of him.  Are we entitled to any compensation for pain, suffering, injury, loss of work, etc.

[Sonny]

My husband had bi-lateral knee replacement on May 21.  Towards the end of June, ONE knee became infected.  This particular knee had a very sloppy seam when it was closed after the operation.  He informed the doctor that the knee was causing him severe discomfort, and he was given Keflex.  After 4 days, the surgeon's office called and informed me that I needed to get my husband to the hospital.  By this time, my husband was delirious from infection & pain killers.  He spent 10 days in the hospital the second time.  One July 6, 2007 the knee was be removed.  We have a third surgery scheduled for 9/17 to replace the knee.  At this time, he has no knee, he can not walk, or drive, or work.  I spend most of what once was free time taking care of him.  Are we entitled to any compensation for pain, suffering, injury, loss of work, etc.

[MacArthur]

You are entitled to compensation if the infection and failure of the operation on one of the knees was due to negligence by the surgeon or hospital during the post-surgical care.  In other words, did the doctor or hospital fail to do something that would have prevented the infection or did they do something that they should have known would cause the infection.  As an example, if it is standard practice to give antibiotics such as Keflex BEFORE a surgery and they failed to do so, that would be negligence.  Staph is a huge problem. Tracing it so some negligence is very difficult and it is not done very often. Staph is a risk of any surgery or hospitalization. Any compensation would come months or years down the road so the thing to do now is get through the next surgery. Then gather all of the medical records. There may be a smoking gun in there. Take those records to an experienced medical malpractice attorney who can then have the history reviewed by another medical specialist to see and form an opinion as to whether there was any negligence.  No one else but another surgeon or infectious disease specialist can answer the question as to whether this problem should not have happened. Good luck.