A spinal fusion surgery is a procedure in which two or more vertebrae are permanently joined using bone grafts and metal hardware – like screws and rods. The goal of this surgery is to stop painful motion, treat instability, or correct deformities caused by conditions like degenerative disc disease, scoliosis, or fractures.
The metal hardware used in this surgery is designed to stabilize the spine therefore correct screw placement is fundamental to a successful procedure. Screws are meant to be seated securely in bone, positioned away from the spinal canal and the nerves it protects.
Leaving multiple screws loose and misplaced, with some inside the spinal canal, is a serious deviation from how the procedure should be performed. Hardware in the spinal canal poses a direct threat to the spinal cord and nerve structures and is not something that should ever be left in place.
In this case, our client, who was a minor, underwent spinal fusion surgery. This negligently performed surgery resulted in months of pain for our client, and he ultimately faced extensive reconstructive surgery, prolonged pain, and other significant complications. The Townsley Law Firm represented his family and recovered over $1,650,000 in a settlement.
Two Separate Failures: The Surgery, and Everything That Came After
This case began with our client having spinal fusion surgery to treat scoliosis. In this surgery, multiple screws were left loose and misplaced, with several of them migrating to the spinal canal. The spinal canal houses and protects the spinal cord, nerve roots, and protective fluids, and when damaged, a patient is put at risk for severe neurological complications.
After the surgery, our client experienced several concerning symptoms including persistent bloody drainage, increased white blood cell count, and tachycardia. Despite these symptoms, our client was discharged. Several days later, he saw his pediatrician with complaints of fever greater than 102.6 degrees, with subsequent blood culture results yielding staph aureus. Two days after that appointment, our client returned to the hospital that performed his surgery with brownish cloudy fluid draining from his incision.
Our client’s complaints and symptoms were not taken seriously, ultimately resulting in over a year’s worth of suffering before the mistake was finally caught. These complications should have been promptly caught. Here, the surgeon failed to recognize both the hardware problems and the developing infection for months, despite our client’s parents repeatedly voicing concerns. That delay is what allowed a bad situation to become far worse.
Nearly two years after our client’s original spinal fusion surgery, he had to go through extensive surgical debridement, removal of infected deep spinal implants, and drainage of spinal abscess. He spent six weeks on antibiotics, then underwent extensive surgery to repair pseudoarthrosis at T8-9, T9-10, T10-11, T11-12, and T12-L1. After the repair, a plastic surgeon performed extensive reconstructive surgery before being admitted to the ICU for high-risk monitoring.
When a Surgeon Stops Listening, the Patient Pays
Some patients cannot fully advocate for themselves. Our client was a minor with Kleefstra Syndrome, a genetic condition affecting development. For a patient like him, the people watching most closely are his parents, and the safety net that matters most is a surgical team that listens to them.
In pediatric care, and especially in the care of a child who cannot fully describe what he is feeling, parents are a primary source of clinical information. When they report that something is wrong, that their child is in pain, that he is not recovering the way he should, those reports are data. The standard of care does not permit them to be brushed aside, particularly after a major spinal operation where hardware complications and infection are known risks.
Persistent or worsening pain after spinal fusion is a recognized warning sign that warrants investigation, including imaging to check hardware placement and evaluation for infection. Repeated parental concern over months should have prompted exactly that kind of workup. Instead, the recognition did not come, and the infection was allowed to progress into a spinal abscess, a collection of infection near the spine that is itself a serious emergency and that required extensive surgery to address.
The reconstructive surgeries, the prolonged pain, and the complications this child endured were the price of that delay. Had the hardware issues and the infection been identified when his parents first raised the alarm, the corrective path would have been shorter and far less traumatic.
