Delayed Treatment of Necrotizing Fasciitis Left Man Disabled, Disfigured

A firefighter and military reservist has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after he was allegedly left debilitated and in a coma when doctors at a Palm Beach County hospital misdiagnosed and then failed to treat an aggressively spreading case of flesh-eating bacteria.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday by attorney Josh Polsky of the law firm Bernstein|Polsky, alleges Dr. Ross G. Stone, an orthopedic surgeon, failed to come to JFK Medical Center to evaluate and administer treatment even though he was on-call and legally and ethically required to come in to evaluate the patient at bedside after being summoned by the emergency room physicians.

For more than two years, Lake Worth resident and Palm Beach County Fire Captain John Flaherty had been under doctor’s orders to self-inject into his left shoulder physician-prescribed medication. A day after an injection in January 2017, he noticed redness and swelling around the injection site. Some 36 hours later, the inflammation had grown worse.

Flaherty went to his primary care physician at the Firefighter’s Wellness Center, where the physician on site recognized the severity of his symptoms and immediately transported him to the hospital, arriving around noon.

JFK Medical Center’s emergency department physicians diagnosed Flaherty with severe sepsis, cellulitis and compartment syndrome, or increased pressure within a muscle compartment of the arm. Intravenous fluids were administered along with Levophed, a drug used to treat life-threatening low blood pressure and often times utilized during cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

By 2 p.m., Flaherty was diagnosed with necrotizing faciitis – a rare and severe gas forming microorganism and flesh-eating bacterial infection that destroys human tissue under the skin. With the inflammation worsening, a physician resident alerted the attending physician, who contacted the general surgeon on call. Noting that the compartment syndrome was suggested within the shoulder cavity, the surgeon refused to operate and deferred to orthopedics for surgery of the upper extremity. Dr. Stone, the on-call orthopedic surgeon, was contacted yet he refused the medical consult in violation of Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) regulations and his contractual obligations with the health care facility.

Flaherty’s vital signs continued dropping. He was given additional Levophed. An article authored previously by a hospital administrator reports that for every hour a patient with necrotizing fasciitis is left untreated, his chances of survival decrease by eight percent.

Flaherty’s chances of survival decreased every minute he was left untreated and out of the operating room. Around 4 p.m., doctors ruled out compartment syndrome; however the physicians, nurses and hospital staff fail to alert any surgeon that the syndrome was ruled out – further delaying Flaherty’s treatment. After diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis, yet according to medical records “[m]ultiple surgeons [were] consulted stat and refused the consult or did not respond.”

By 8 p.m., the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nursing Officer were both informed of Flaherty’s quickly declining state. Hospital administrators contacted Dr. Stone again and he subsequently refused to come in, agreeing to see the patient the following day. They then called a vascular and hand surgeon; each of whom declined to consult.

In all, four surgeons declined to operate, yet none ever were warned that they could be subject to the “medical staff clause” and have their privileges suspended for failure to treat.

“Dr. Stone had a contractual and ethical obligation to show up at the hospital to evaluate the patient at bedside – not just decline the consult from a cellular phone. This was a manageable quarter-sized wound that could have been prevented from spreading had the on-call surgeons timely responded,” Polsky said. “Instead, John endured unspeakable and avoidable suffering, barely surviving the epidemic after awakening from a two-and-a-half-week septic shock coma and losing all practical use of his left arm.”

Unable to find a surgeon willing to operate, doctors and administrators were forced to discharge Flaherty and transfer him to another hospital. At 4 a.m., 16 hours after first arriving in the emergency room and 12 hours after a decision first was made to operate on an infection site the size of a quarter, Flaherty underwent surgery. Due to the unnecessary delay in treatment, surgeons removed his left deltoid, left triceps muscle and much of his left bicep in order to save his life.

Suffering septic shock and renal failure and having become ventilator dependent, Flaherty fell into a septic-shock coma. He spent the next two months in the intensive care unit. Discharged in March 2017, Flaherty today undergoes painful physical therapy to break up scar tissue. His limited mobility in his left arm will never fully improve.

“If caught and acted upon early, the spread of necrotizing fasciitis can be curtailed. Physicians that are compensated to be on-call have a legal and ethical obligation to come in and see the patient first hand, to administer all possible aid to save a life. Dr. Stone not only refused to come in, he missed the diagnosis and once they recognized the severity of our client’s symptoms, the hospital and doctors were unable to perform under the proper standard of care,” said Polsky. “He went into the hospital certainly facing aggressive treatment and probable surgery. Because of poor care and a doctor who failed in their contractual and ethical duties, he emerged two months later a physically and emotionally scarred man.”

ABOUT BERNSTEIN POLSKY, P.A. Bernstein|Polsky is a Fort Lauderdale-based civil law firm committed to fighting for justice on behalf of our statewide and national client base in catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death. In the last decade the attorneys of Bernstein|Polsky have litigated cases and brokered settlements valued in excess of $100 million. For more information on the firm, visit www.bpinjury.com.