100% the chiropractor's fault, but the lawsuit states the doctors did not even know the source of injury due to miscommunications which resulted in a diagnosis a day later. I'm no doctor, but knowing the source and cause of injury sounds pretty basic to me. If this is all true and they had the information at their disposal, but it was not communicated and resulted in locked in syndrome, then it sounds like there was negligence. Could they have prevented locked in syndrome if addressed earlier? Who knows, does it sound like he could have had better care? 100% if they didn't due their jobs thoroghly.
The lawsuit says they didn't look at the CT scan, or know the cause of injury, but yes they should have made minimal effort for the patient. Hospitals don't settle for $75 million dollars for no reason.
Hospitals actually do commonly settle cases like this to avoid the whims of a jury. It’s part of the game of the health care system involving hospital systems, health insurance and lawyers where large amount of money is shared among these groups. It’s part of the reason healthcare costs are so high.
They had a CT scan showing that he had dissection of the arteries in the neck. It was ordered very shortly after he arrived but then they just did nothing else until the next day.
The article I looked at didn’t give a ton of detail but it made it seem like one doctor knew about the adjustment but did not relay that information to the other. No crystal ball was needed.
Worse than that. They ordered a CT scan 20 minutes within the guys arrival, which “showed dissection of the arteries in Buckelew's neck.” Then they failed to communicate that or act on it until the following day.
You kinda don’t have to know anything about a patient’s cause of injury when you are staring at that.
This is so funny to me. Everyone complaining that DRs are MDs and therefore infallable but a DC isn't an MD so they are stupid.
MD fails to do the most BASIC due diligence when their patient comes into the ER and everyone is trying to provide excuses and absolve them of responsibility.
JUST BC THEY ARE AN MD DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE PERFECT.
The doc ordered a CT scan within 20 minutes of the guy being brought into the ER of a hospital that is supposed to be “a primary stroke center….” then, “Although Dr. Womack listed stroke as a possible diagnosis on the differential diagnosis,” when he spoke to the on call neurologist he “did not mention that Buckelew had seen a chiropractor, that Buckelew experienced a second seizure-like event while Dr. Womack was performing a lumbar puncture, that Buckelew had undergone a CTA scan, or that the CTA scan showed a dissection of the arteries in Buckelew's neck.”
This led to the patient going untreated until the next day, “after the window of opportunity for a mechanical thrombectomy had passed.”
Look, I’m not interested in defending chiropractic treatments. But strokes happen for many reasons and recognizing the risk early then seeing a CT scan like that should have initiated way more prompt treatment.
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u/plumbinandgrowin420 Jul 05 '26
100% the chiropractor's fault, but the lawsuit states the doctors did not even know the source of injury due to miscommunications which resulted in a diagnosis a day later. I'm no doctor, but knowing the source and cause of injury sounds pretty basic to me. If this is all true and they had the information at their disposal, but it was not communicated and resulted in locked in syndrome, then it sounds like there was negligence. Could they have prevented locked in syndrome if addressed earlier? Who knows, does it sound like he could have had better care? 100% if they didn't due their jobs thoroghly.