Your feet bear your weight and allow you to walk, run, jump, and live a healthy and active lifestyle. Unfortunately, the feet are also prone to significant injuries and conditions affecting mobility and overall quality of life. Parts of the foot that are prone to issues are the metatarsal bones. These five bones are in the mid-foot and connect the phalanges, or toes, to the tarsals, which are seven bones of irregular shape situated in the ankle area.
Metatarsal surgery is standard to help address and correct medical issues and deformities of the foot, but the consequences can be significant when surgery goes wrong or fails.
The Law Firm of Lawrence M. Karam, P.C. understands how a failed surgical procedure can impact a person’s physical, emotional, and financial well-being. With over 25 years of experience practicing podiatric malpractice law, Attorney Larry Karam and his compassionate team work towards successful outcomes for patients injured by the careless actions of a medical provider or facility.
If you believe you are the victim of a failed metatarsal surgery and podiatry malpractice, contact our office today to set up a confidential consultation to discuss your situation.
What Is Metatarsal Surgery?
Metatarsal surgery is a procedure performed on the long bones of the foot called the metatarsals. The metatarsal bones are weight-bearing bones that give the foot its arch, provide stability and support, and help absorb force when a person walks or runs. Surgery on this foot area is common for correcting deformities like bunions and addressing other conditions.
A bunion is a bony lump or deformity that forms at the base of the large toe, often associated with wearing narrow or pointy shoes that crowd or squish the toes. They can also develop due to a person’s walking mechanics, inflammatory health conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, or standing and walking for long periods. Metatarsal surgery can help correct the deformity, easing pain and discomfort.
Other conditions that may require metatarsal surgery can include:
- Metatarsal bone fractures
- Callouses
- Ulcers, especially in diabetics
Surgery can help treat these issues and restore function while decreasing pain and swelling.
How Does Metatarsal Surgery Go Wrong?
The foot helps keep you mobile. When metatarsal surgery goes wrong, it can significantly impact your health, job, and financial stability. Some of the tell-tail signs that a metatarsal surgery has failed can include:
- Persistent foot pain
- Pain that radiates from the surgical site
- Poor healing
- Infection
- Nerve damage, loss of sensation
- Numbness and weakness
- Improper foot alignment
- Changes in foot mechanics or mobility
The long-term consequences of a failed metatarsal surgery can include chronic pain, mobility issues, and additional medical treatments or revision surgeries. Metatarsal surgery can go wrong when a podiatrist provides a patient with substandard medical care. Some podiatric malpractice issues can involve:
- Failure to obtain informed consent for surgery
- Inadequate medical history evaluation
- Surgical errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Medication errors
- Operating on the wrong foot or area of the foot
- Failure to remove medical tools from inside the patient
- Failure to monitor the patient post-surgery
- Failure to diagnose post-surgical issues or infection
In addition to long-term physical and emotional damage, podiatry malpractice can also lead to fatalities.
Proving Your Metatarsal Surgery Failed Due to Podiatric Malpractice
Proving podiatric malpractice is complicated because medical malpractice cases are fact-specific and hinge on demonstrating that a podiatrist deviated from the medically accepted standard of care. What does that mean? It means that a practitioner provided a substandard level of care that harmed a patient, whereas a similarly trained professional would have taken different steps or performed the surgery differently in the same circumstances.
Key elements a skilled medical malpractice lawyer must prove in a failed metatarsal surgery case include:
- A patient-podiatric relationship exists, so the podiatrist owes the patient a duty of care
- The actions or inactions of the practitioner violated that duty of care because they were outside the applicable standard of care for practitioners of this medical field
- The duty of care violation directly caused harm to the patient
- The harm resulted in measurable injuries and financial losses
Proving these elements takes significant evidence and a comprehensive legal strategy.
Compensation for Failed Metatarsal Surgery in New York
Failed metatarsal surgery can lead to unique repercussions for each patient. Some may experience chronic pain and quality of life issues. Others may be unable to return to work in the same capacity as before the failed surgery.
A skilled podiatric malpractice attorney carefully evaluates each case and calculates the value of the totality of a person’s losses, taking into account the individual circumstances of the situation. While the value of a failed metatarsal surgery malpractice case can vary, patients are generally entitled to pursue money for the following:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disability or disfigurement
- Pain and suffering
Although rare, a patient may be awarded punitive damages in some instances if the podiatrist’s actions were willful, reckless, or egregious. Punitive damages are a financial punishment for the at-fault party that is not intended to compensate the victim for their injuries. They are awarded in addition to compensation for economic (losses with a specific cost) and non-economic (intangible personal harm) losses like medical expenses and pain and suffering.
Contact an Experienced New York Podiatric Malpractice Attorney Now
Victims of podiatric malpractice have limited time to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for their injuries. Discussing your situation with an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible is the best way to protect your rights and pursue maximum compensation. At The Law Firm of Lawrence M. Karam, P.C., our legal team understands that you need more than effective legal representation. You need someone you can rely on for support and guidance.
Contact our office today and arrange a confidential legal consultation, and let’s work together to hold the careless podiatrist accountable for their actions.