Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)

[Bean's Mom]

My journey with RSD started about 2 1/2 months ago. I was at my boyfriend's house and I had overcooked some brownies. I grabbed the first knife I saw on the countertop which was a steak knife.
I was holding the corner of the pan with my left hand at the top, left hand corner. The knife skipped off the brownies and went into my hand at the point where your hand and wrist meet.

I went to the ER immediately. My middle, ring, and pinky fingers immediately after the knife incident had curled up. They got me right in and did xrays and mri's. My ulnar nerve was severed as well as the tendons for the three fingers. There was also damage to other small nerves.

The ER doctor said I needed immediate surgery. She called the hand surgeon on call. He didn't want to come in because it was a Sunday and told her to have me come to his office the next day.

I went in on Monday. He didn't schedule surgery until Thursday. So from Sun- Thursday my nerve had been severed completely.

After surgery the pain in my hand was unbarable. It felt like it was on fire and my entire hand was being stabbed over and over again. The pain hasn't let up since surgery. My ring finger still has no feeling in it and my pinky finger is still curled up and I can not control it.

A few weeks after surgery I started doing research on the ulnar nerve. I found out that the doctor should have done the surgery that day and not waited because the nerve dies more and more each day.

I was taking the max I could take of the vicodin the hand surgeon had prescribed and I was still in massive pain with no relief.

I tried to find another doctor to treat me but after surgery almost no other hand surgeons will touch you. I went to my family doctor who just kept shaking his head over and over about how long the other doc took to do my surgery. He said vicodin was pointless to take with a nerve injury and prescribed oxycontin. He got me into an orthopedic hand surgeon (The other doc was a plastic surgeon)

The new orthopedic told me I need another surgery in a few more months to correct my pinky fingers. The original doc didn't connect something or another to the small muscles in my hand. He also sent me to a pain management doctor.

The pain mgmt doctor has been wonderful. She also put me on neurotin as well. It is helping a little. The pain isn't as intense. I'm scheduled for a nerve block on Tuesday. She also diagnosed me with rsd
She too couldn't believe that the first hand doc didn't do surgery for so long.

So, from what i've read I'm in for a lifetime of pain, hand sweating, and possibly loose all function of my left hand because this jerk didn't want to come in on a Sunday.

I've been doing more research on the internet about RSD and I've read about lots of lawsuits. Have any of you sued for malpractice?

Thanks for listening

[AnnieLeeLee]

Hi, I am so sorry for your injury and the mess afterwards. I am not a lawyer, but it sounds like you might do well to consult one and see whether you have a case. It does sound to me--as a lay person--that the doctor--or someone from the hospital if he could not--should've done something right away to repair the nerve or otherwise conserve it. I don't know what the options are, but if there was preventable damage then there might be a cause for a malpractice suit for nerve damage and/or loss of function and/or pain and suffering and so on.
That said, I don't know if RSD is a proven malpractice thing, as many of us get RSD from things that are far simpler and sometimes even without knowing the cause (in my case it is from nerve damage, and is in part from damage in surgery, but I don't think it was avoidable in my case to damage the nerve, and RSD just happens to be something my nerve was vulnerable to somehow--I'd have nerve damage either way, with or without RSD). I think it would be hard to prove RSD as a direct result of the delay in surgery--people get RSD with surgeries that are done on time and without complications.
So I'm not sure how effective it is as a malpractice cause.
Then again, the nerve damage and loss of function, which are more measurable and more direcly related to the injury, can maybe be something to explore. Doctors can't ignore things that neglecting will make worse.
You might've gotten RSD even if the surgery was done on time. The extent of nerve damage might've been less. Does that make sense to you?

As for the prognosis--I hope you also know that there are a lot of people who get RSD and heal, or get much better. And not all RSD gets worse or spreads. It is not an automatic life-sentence and keeping hope is important.

Also, who knows--nerve studies are being done all the time and one of those days there'd be treatments for nerve damage to restore nerve endings. It might help me and you and it might help with the RSD...
:)
So keep hopeful, and yes, I do recommend contacting a GOOD malpractice lawyer for a consultation--they should not charge you to review the case or even represent you, and most times only take a percentage of settlement if it is achieved and nothing if you lose.
Hope this helps
Annie

[Bean's Mom]

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

Well, from what I've read on the net it is believed RSD can be caused by mistakes in surgery. In my case, my family doc thinks it is from the surgery being delayed so long.
I'm just scared. I'm a single mom. My ex pays very little child support and my daughter has epilepsy. I can't afford not to work. I can't afford to be on SSI. I'm scared.

[AnnieLeeLee]

Hi Bean's mom,
I hear you. Believe me, I do. It is scary to be fending for yourself and not be well, and scarier still if you think it might get worse or even never get better. I DO think that you have cause to explore malpractice suit. I DO think that if you have nerve damage that might've otherwise been less (because no one knows if you'd have had none following a severed nerve) because of the delay in surgery, that you might well be entitled to damages. Maybe even substantial ones.

What I'm not sure about it whether the RSD is a the best thing to lean on, given that while RSD can be caused by mistakes in surgery, it can also be caused by any simple injury that was properly treated. It can happen--and MOST OFTEN DOES--without malpractice. So a lawyer for the hospital/doctor (which they will certainly have) will be likely to say that there's no way to prove that you wouldn't have had RSD anyway, and that therefore the RSD cannot be direclty related to the delay...

Personally, if it were my case, I'd go for the nerve damage, not the RSD, as the accusation for malpractice. Because I think there might be research that shows that delaying surgery worsens the outcome. A good malpractice lawyer will know what to focus on and where to find that information--it is what their job is, to know the medical research and utilize it for your case.

I think you might be able to recover damages. Sounds like the doctor was a j^rk...and that the doctors you have now are willing to say that they believe the delay caused worsening.

Take heart, and know you're not alone
Annie

[G0J0G0]

Hi Bean's Mom,
A lot depends on the laws that vary from state to state. There is a law firm that specializes in RSD cases and you can find their link on a lot of the sites that offer support. Their name is "The Belt Law Firm" and I think they even advetrise on this site. If not their name will probably be removed from this post, but you will be able to locate them with just a small amount of effort. RSD should not be taken too lightly and you should start looking into this ASAP. There will be a life time of difficulties if this is proven to be RSD and unfortunately life as you know it now has forever changed if this is what you are now facing... Your best freind is research look at every opportunity to learn more about this and its ramifications. And most importantly remember, you are not alone and there many places to find the answers you need and deserve. Don't give up hope, keep in touch, and we are all just an email or post away. Blessings to you, gojogo