Spinal infections can attack the spine’s vertebrae and discs, as well as the surrounding tissues and spinal cord. If these infections are diagnosed early, patients can usually recover well without long-lasting effects. However, if the infection is not diagnosed and treatment is delayed, the bone can deteriorate and collapse and patients can end up with severe pain, permanent neurological injuries, including paralysis and even death.
Unfortunately, Florida doctors and other health care providers often fail to diagnose and treat spinal infections. Back pain, the primary complaint of patients suffering from spinal infections, is such a common complaint that they may not even consider spinal infection as a possible diagnosis and, therefore, may not order appropriate diagnostic tests. As a 2020 update on spinal infections in the journal Microorganisms notes, misdiagnosis occurs frequently, especially in elderly patients who do not have a fever, and is the primary indicator of poor long-term outcomes, according to a report published by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
If you or a family member has sought care and suffered because of a missed or delayed spinal infection diagnosis, you could be the victim of medical malpractice. As such, you may be able to hold the physician and/or other health care providers who should have been able to diagnose your condition correctly accountable for medical negligence and obtain compensation for your pain, suffering, emotional anguish, medical expenses, lost income, and other damages recoverable under Florida law.
What Are the Symptoms of Spinal Infections?
Pathogens can infect any part of the spinal column, and symptoms may vary depending on the location of the infection. However, in general, the most common symptoms and complaints of people suffering from spinal infections are:
- Neck or back pain – This pain is typically the first symptom. Since it can be attributed to numerous other causes, infection may be overlooked as a cause in the early stages. Pain that does not decrease with rest and medication and worsens at night or with movement should, however, suggest the possibility of spinal infection and the need to conduct appropriate diagnostic tests.
- Fever – A fever is not always present with a spinal infection, but when a patient has a fever and complains of back pain, spinal infection should be investigated as a possible diagnosis.
- Tenderness, swelling or redness at a specific location on the spine. The location will vary, depending on where the infection is located, but any tenderness, swelling or redness in conjunction with back or neck pain should be investigated as a possible spinal infection.
If a spinal infection is allowed to progress, patients may experience progressively worse symptoms, such as:
- Severe back pain
- Limited mobility
- Weakness, numbness or tingling in the arms and legs
- Weight loss and loss of appetite
- Bowel and bladder incontinence
Because symptoms can vary significantly among patients and some may not become evident until an infection has caused serious damage, experts recommend a thorough physical examination and examination of the complete medical history be coupled with “increased awareness and clinical suspicion” of the possibility of spinal infection. That is, if patients complaining of back pain have a fever and/or tenderness, have recently had surgery or a trauma, are immunocompromised, use corticosteroid or intravenous drugs and/or have muscle weakness, tingling or numbness in the arms or legs, physicians should evaluate the patient for a possible spinal infection and order the imaging scans and laboratory testing necessary to either confirm or reliably rule out the diagnosis.
How Are Spinal Infections Diagnosed?
If a spinal infection is suspected, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons recommends CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI – “the gold standard in identifying spinal infection and assessing the neural elements”), often utilizing contrast dye to highlight the areas of damage. Blood cultures are also used to confirm the diagnosis and identify the type of bacteria or fungus causing the infection. When a deep infection is suspected, an image-guided needle aspiration biopsy may be necessary to confirm the diagnosis and identify the pathogen causing the infection.
After the spinal infection and pathogen have been identified, treatment can begin. Treatment typically includes:
- Intravenous Antibiotic Medications: To kill the infection, antibiotics may be prescribed for anywhere from 7 to 10 days, to 6 to 12 weeks. A central line may need to be placed in order to assist in the administration of longer-term medications.
- Bracing and Rest: These treatments help to improve stability while the spine heals.
- Surgery: Unfortunately, because vertebral discs do not have a good blood supply, antibiotics will not always kill the infection. Delayed diagnosis of a spinal infection can also result in discitis (an infection of the intervertebral discs), osteomyelitis (infection of the spinal bones) or an epidural abscess (a collection of pus that can compress the spinal cord and cause paralysis). In these cases where antibiotics have proven ineffective, or where there is evidence of an abscess, or nerve or spinal cord compression,, surgery will be required to treat the infected spine. This may be necessary to save the patient’s neurologic function or even to save the patient’s life.
If a spinal infection has been misdiagnosed and allowed to progress, even surgery may not be able to repair the damage. The infection can progress to the point that the bone deteriorates and collapses, possibly causing instability of the spine, paralysis or, in some cases, death. Indeed, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons reports that the “morbidity and mortality rate of surgical intervention is high.”
Why Are Spinal Infections Not Diagnosed Correctly?
There are many reasons why spinal infections may not be diagnosed correctly, including the non-specificity of the symptoms; however, a review of the literature and red flags for the detection of spinal infections found that the two major issues are: failure to recognize the relevant signs (“red flags”) and failure to consider spinal infection as a potential diagnosis. Leading to and following from these failures are other causes of diagnostic errors involving spinal infections, such as:
- Failure to take and investigate a patient’s complete medical history.
- Failure to conduct a thorough physical examination.
- Failure to order necessary laboratory tests and appropriate imaging scans.
- Failure to use a multidisciplinary approach and consult with specialists, including neurological radiologists (neuroradiologists), spine surgeons and infectious disease physicians.
- Failure to follow up with a patient in a timely manner after receiving test results.
- Failure to communicate clearly with patients and their families.
If your doctor or other health care providers failed to diagnose your spinal infection and you have suffered because of this failure, you may be able to hold them responsible and obtain the substantial compensation you deserve for your pain, suffering, anguish, medical and care expenses, lost income and other damages recoverable under Florida law. Consulting with an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney about your spinal infection misdiagnosis and how it has affected your life and your family is the best way for you to understand and protect your legal rights and pursue justice.
Should I File a Florida Medical Malpractice Claim for Misdiagnosis of Spinal Infection?
If your doctor and other health care providers did not diagnose your spinal infection correctly in a timely manner and you have suffered because of that misdiagnosis, you should consider bringing a Florida medical malpractice claim against the negligent health care providers. A medical malpractice claim can help you hold negligent health care provider accountable and help you receive compensation for all the damages you have suffered.
In Florida, medical malpractice is defined as the failure of a health care provider to act in accordance with the accepted professional standard of care owed to patients. In other words, when a doctor, nurse or other healthcare provider is negligent and fails to act as a reasonably prudent medical provider of the same specialty would act and causes a patient to suffer serious injury or wrongful death, the doctor, nurse or hospital may be held legally responsible for inflicting harm on his or her patients.
As a victim of spinal infection medical malpractice, you may have suffered irreparable harm. You deserve justice and substantial financial compensation for your physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, diminished capacity to enjoy life, medical and care expenses, lost income and other damages recoverable under Florida law. An experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney can help assess all of the economic and non-economic damages you have suffered and take effective legal action to help you get the compensation and justice you deserve.
Call Boyers Law Group at 305-512-7600 or submit the “Tell Us What Happened” form on our website as soon as possible to discuss your case with an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney committed to tirelessly seeking justice for injured victims of medical malpractice in Florida.