The family of a patient who became paralyzed and later passed away has been awarded $880k in compensatory damages following a case of medical malpractice, the law firm Leesburg Tuttle announced Monday.
In 2019, 76-year-old Ronald Nielson fell while fishing at Apple Valley Lake. Though he as able to walk back to his car and drive home afterward, he continued to have neck pain and decided to go to the ER at Knox Community Hospital. Nielson was placed in a neck brace and had a CT scan, which came back negative for a fracture. He was discharged, but the next day he woke up unable to move his arms or legs.
Nielson was transported to OSU Wexner Medical Center for an emergency surgery. There, it was determined he had a broken neck and had developed a bleed along his spinal cord.
Afterward, he was diagnosed with quadriplegia and told he would never be able to use his arms or legs. Shortly afterward, Nielson passed away from complications from pneumonia.
A lawsuit was filed against a radiologist who failed to properly interpret Nielson's CT scan. The verdict reached by the jury found the radiologist in question negligent for failing to identify the fracture, which was a direct cause of Nielson's paralysis but not his death. As such, the damages were awarded to Nielson's estate.
.“Our firm is honored to represent this wonderful family and hold this negligent radiologist accountable for not seeing and calling out Ron’s fracture," the Leesburg Tuttle team said. "We are pleased that the jury was able to see through the attempts by the defense to excuse the radiologist’s failure, and provide justice for Ron and his family, who lost a husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.”