Low back pain is one of the most common causes of disability in adults of all ages and both sexes. Low back pain can result from many causes. Low back pain is common among persons such as truck drivers or data processors, whose occupations require that they sit long hours behind the wheel or at a desk, without opportunity to walk or exercise. Hard physical labor can also cause severe back pain, as with an auto mechanic who bends over all day fixing cars. Sports injuries, whether due to bearing excessive weight or making strenuous movements, often bring about significant back pain.
On the anatomic level, low back pain can originate from the bones, ligaments, muscles, nerve roots, the meninges which cover the spinal cord, and even the skin. In addition, some back pains have genetic origins, such as poor alignment of the vertebral bodies, vertebral instability, vertebral degeneration like spondylolisthesis or ankylosing spondylolisthesis, vertebral disc abnormalities, or nerve entrapments. All can cause severe pain. There are also many serious diseases that can affect the anatomical structures of the low back and cause pain. Thus, infection, bleeding, and benign and malignant tumors can also cause back pain.
The medical specialist most commonly consulted on back pain is the orthopedic surgeon, sometimes in conjunction with a neurosurgeon. Both specialists routinely treat spinal disease as part of their medical practice. Some people go to a chiropractor to manipulate their back in the hope of alleviating pain. In the last 15 years more and more patients get surgical treatment for their low back pain. Low back surgeries have varying degrees of success and failure. Failures include death and serious complications, including nerve damage, bleeding, and infections, all of which are fairly common, especially following surgeries performed with medical devices such as rods, plates, or other types of hardware.
Serious complications or adverse results, such as paralysis or persistent new-onset pain, should be evaluated to assess whether the surgery was indicated and whether the surgery was performed in accordance with applicable standards of care. When analysis of back surgery is performed after surgical failure your lawyer has to assess with medical experts if you had a bad result which can happen without negligence or whether your surgeon used unacceptable techniques, materials, or defective prosthetic devices or cements. It is essential that competent medical-legal analysis be employed in the evaluation of failed surgeries or other low back procedures. In recent years, for example, a product known as Norian XR bone cement manufactured by Synthes Inc. has been found to cause severe bleeding and even death due to a deleterious effect on blood and blood producing organs. Several death cases have been reported to the USFDA.
If you or someone you know has suffered serious injury after failed back surgery, a law firm with expertise in medical malpractice should be consulted. Our team of experienced medical malpractice attorneys can be reached at (202) 737-7777.
