Plaintiff Claims Spine Surgery Caused Complete Paralysis
On Sept. 8, 2004, plaintiff Karim Khosravi, 65, a retired accountant, was climbing a ladder at his home when he fell and injured his back. He was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he was seen and examined by emergency room personnel. He was admitted through the trauma service with incomplete paraplegia and started on a spine injury steroid protocol. An orthopedic spine surgeon, Hieu Ball, saw the patient that evening and recommended surgery to decompress the T10-T11 space, an area that corresponds to the lower back, if the patient did not improve by the following morning.The next day, Khosravi experienced profound weakness of his lower extremities and was taken to surgery to address a posterior-based stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal cord caused by calcium deposit. Ball performed a laminectomy, where the lamina of the vertebra is removed to relieve pressure on the spinal cord. He also performed a partial discectomy, the removal of herniated disc material, with fusion. Following surgery, he was a complete paraplegic and was returned to the operating room for re-exploration to rule out the possibility of hematoma/disc fragments. No cause of the paraplegia was identified.
Several days later, Ball performed an anterior spinal fusion with discectomy to remove additional disc material on the anterior side of the cord. There was little or no improvement. Khosravi developed complete paraplegia at T8-9 (the lower back).
Khosravi sued Ball and several other parties, including John Muir Medical Center, which was dismissed prior to trial. Plaintiff claimed that the initial procedure should have been done anteriorly and that the posterior laminectomy caused an ischemic event, blood loss to the spinal cord, that led to the paraplegia. At trial, he asked for a jury verdict of $2.5 million for past and future medical costs and $3.6 million in pain and suffering.
Ball argued that Khosravi ’s condition was not caused by negligent medical care, but by the fall itself, abetted by preexisting stenosis. At trial, the jury was shown a CT that had been performed in May 2004 for pneumonia that indicated the preexisting stenosis. It was compared to an MRI taken the day of the fall that showed the cord injury from the fall. Another MRI, taken a day later, showed decompression following the first surgery at T10-11.
After the fall, Khosravi was rushed to John Muir Medical Center with partial paraplegia. A day after undergoing surgery, he experienced a profound weakness of his lower extremities and was taken to surgery to address a posterior based stenosis. He was given a laminectomy and a partial discectomy and developed complete paraplegia. Several days later, he underwent an anterior spinal fusion with discectomy to remove additional disc material on the anterior side of the cord. There was little or no improvement. Defendant claimed the paraplegia was caused by plaintiff’ fall, abetted by preexisting stenosis.
A jury found defendant not liable for plaintiff’s injuries.