Re: Wife needs a hip replacement

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On 7/02/07, John wrote:
> On 1/07/07, Attorney/Nurse wrote:
>> On 5/18/06, John wrote:
>>> Hello, I hope someone can give me suggestions, ideas, or a
>>> place to turn to where I can get information/help. My wife
>>> was born with her hip dislocated and out of the socket. The
>>> doctors told her mother she would never walk. She was in a
>>> boddy cast at the age of 15 months and was in it for 18
>>> months. After getting out the doctors said everything was
>>> fine, it is looking good etc. She is now 26 years old. I
>>> took her to an orthepedic surgeon due to the pain in the
>>> same hip. He showed us the x-rays which showed that my
>>> wifes hip was badly deformed, the ball which goes into the
>>> hip is the size of a marble. The doctor told her that she
>>> needed to have her hip replaced whenever she can no longer
>>> stand the pain. He said that if the doctors would have
>>> found this when she was born (and not at 15 months) and
>>> they put it back in properly and performed their duties
>>> properly, she would not be needing a hip replacement today.
>>> She now also has arthritus (spelling??) in her hips. What
>>> can we do about this/ if anything? I know it has been a
>>> long time, but we just found out about 1 year ago as to the
>>> severity of it. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in
>>> advance.
>>
>> Dear John: There is no legal remedy for your wife's
>> condition, since the statute of limitations has long since
>> expired. Please understand: this is not to say that
>> everything happened as it should; far from it. It is simply
>> that you are time-barred. On occasion, the statute of
>> limitations can be challenged in your State Supreme Court on
>> the grounds of constitutionality. But that has to be based
> on
>> the time of the statute beginning to run when a 'reasonable
>> person knew, or should have known, that there had been
>> negligence'.
>>
>> Here, your wife was born with this condition and has had it
>> all her life. Since the condition is a painful one, she must
>> have often seen doctors for this. It sounds as if this is
> the
>> first time a doctor stated that this should have been treated
>> differently at birth. That would seem to indicate that all
>> the other doctors did not think so, and that augurs
> negatively
>> for your case.
>>
>> Now that's my take as an Attorney. As a Nurse, however, I
>> hope she will eventually get the replacement because it makes
>> an enormous difference in quality of life. These procedures
>> are enormously successful; and it is no longer the case where
>> orthopedists try to have young patients (like your wife) wait
>> until they are in their 50's or 60's to have it done, on the
>> theory that the new hip will 'wear out' before the patient's
>> life does. Instead, it is more and more contemplated that a
>> person with dysplasia will perhaps have a second procedure.
>>
>> I hope this has been of some assistance to you, and good
> luck.
>> Attorney/Nurse
>
> Thank you very much for the response. No my wife did not see
> several doctors dor this. She had suregery when she was 15
> months old and seen doctors after that for a couple of
> months.This was due to them saying her hip was dislocated. But
> she has not seen a doctor for it until recently, when it
> started to hurt her very badly. A guy we know works for a
> doctor who specializes in hips. He is the one who found this
> problem, that the past doctors said was corrected when in fact
> the bone (ball) was not growing correctly. Looking at the ball
> of her bone looks like you are looking at a peanut.
>
> So you think she should get the replacement huh. The doctor is
> wanting her to wait since we are talking about having another
> baby. (my wife is 27). I feel so bad for her seeing her in the
> pain she is in. She has tried several different perscriptions
> but nothing seems to take awat or even ease the pain. I wish I
> could take the pain for her so she could live without it \. I
> want her to have the replacement as soon as possible, but that
> is not my call. We have handicap plates on our vehicle and oh
my do we get the stares from the elderly and alot of them even
bend down to check our plate to make sure it is a handicap
plate. There have even been instances when people get samrt with
my wife for parking there.