People who have had a serious spinal injury may need a surgery to hold the spine in place, to assist the person’s spine to heal from an accident. This surgery is called several names, some of which are a vertebral fixation or a spinal fixation. The spinal fixation is an orthopedic surgery where two or more of the person’s spinal vertebrae are fused or brought together to stop harmful movement, while the spine is healing from a fracture. The screws that hold the spin in place are called pedicle screws, and it is rare for them to break as the are made of titanium which is an extremely sturdy metal.
After the spinal fixation surgery is complete, the person’s spine should be cured of any residual pain. But this is not always what happens. Often the person continues to experience major pain in the spinal areas. That means that the spinal fixation screws are causing a residual problem in the individual’s spine. The screws are meant to bring stability to the person’s spine, to allow greater mobility and movement again after an accident. But sadly, this does not happen, and the spinal injury after a surgery to fix it can be worsened instead.
The surgery is performed by specialized surgeons with years of knowledge about the issues related to the spine and healing. Sometimes a bone graft is added to secure the surgery to fuse the spine, or to replace bone that was damaged during an accident. If the surgical procedure did not work properly, the surgeon has to find out why this surgery did not work. By all accounts, a spinal fixation is meant to work. If it does not, the surgeon and radiologist need to look closely at the spine again, to determine exactly what went so horribly wrong in that case.
Many times, the new pain after a surgical spinal fixation is caused by the breaking of the surgical screws. If this has occurred, there is a plethora of testing that must be performed to determine the extent of the damage of a fractured screw. One test to determine if a pedicle screw has broken is to measure stress analysis with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Another test is that the person who has had this type of surgery starts to feel pain in the area that does not go away. The SEM fractography will highlight any broken screws with marks indicating the fractured surfaces.
Even though it is unusual, in cases of malpractice these screws can break, which requires a person to have a revised spinal surgery. Before the next surgery can take place, the surgeon needs to understand and identify what went wrong with the first surgery, the issues with the segmental fusions, the defective nature of the segmental devices and other factors that worsen instead of prevent the pain in the spine for the individual. Sometimes a person may need an entire spinal reconstruction, on account of a fractured screw or misaligned fusion operation. The point of the surgery is to realign the spine that has been damaged in an accident.
Broken Screw Spine Surgery Lawsuit
The incidence of spinal fusion has increased in the past decades, with complications from the procedure staying at a varied rate. When the hardware put into a person’s spine to assist healing after a spinal injury accident fails, it is highly distressing for the individual with the back problem. Pedicle screw fractures used to be rare, but are becoming more common these days. People with pedicle screws can experience a fractured rod, fractured screw or other issues with mechanical stresses on the screws. The pedicle screws are more susceptible to being broken because of the location of the rods and screws in most instances. This operation is a delicate operation that needs special care to preserve the ambulatory function of the patient post-surgery.
Broken Screw in Lower Back Surgery
The placement of the screw being put in improperly is a factor to the screw breaking. Other factors that can contribute to breakage of the screw are:
- Diameter of screws used
- Narrowness of area to place screws
- Other complications
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Broken Titanium Screw Lumbar Spine Surgery Class Action Lawsuit
If you have been the victim of a broken titanium screw as the result of a lumbar spine surgery, you may be eligible to join a class action. The rate of screw fractures of the spine is increasing, and you may have been the victim of negligence or medical malpractice, if your lumbar spine screw has broken or fractured in your spine.
Can I Sue a Doctor If the Screw Broke in My Back?
Yes, you can sue the doctor if the screw broke in your back has fractured, cracked or broken. If the screw is inadequately placed, has too small a diameter, is a defective screw, or is improperly placed, the stressors on the screw may fracture. The screws are not often salvaged, and the loosening of a screw can cause the spinal fusions to be unstable. It is noted that another surgery will need to be performed to remedy this situation in most cases to all cases after a fractured screw.
Can I Sue a Hospital If the Screw Broke in My Back After Spine Surgery?
Yes, you can sue the hospital for medical malpractice if the screw broke in your back after back surgery. The operation to insert a screw into the spine is a highly precise operation. During this operation, the spine is opened, a hole is drilled into the area of the vertebrae, and clammed off. Next the pedicle screws of predetermined length and diameter are chosen and implanted into the pedicle of the vertebrae by a highly specialized surgeon.
But the size of the screw to be used is not an “exact” science, and screw size can be chosen by surgeon preference, protocols at the hospital, or at the recommendation of use of screws by other doctors. The screws also have to be imbedded into the spine as precise angles and distances. The surgeon has to understand the bone density of the patient before the surgery, to know where to place the screws for the maximum recovery.
The wide variations in a person’s bone density make this a precise operation to be sure. If you have had a problem with a fracture of a spinal screw, you need to give us a call. You will want to discuss with us bringing an action against a doctor for a spinal screw breaking in your spine. You can sue a doctor for medical malpractice, if you have had a titanium screw break in your back. But you need to call us to discuss your case, as it will be a complicated claim that you will be making, with many varied factors to consider in this type of case.
Can I File a Lawsuit If a Titanium Screw Broke in My Back?
Yes, our injury attorneys in California can file a lawsuit if a titanium screw broke in your back. You will be able to be compensated for your personal injury, medical malpractice claim, pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills and other expenses related to the case. If you are wondering “Do I have a case?” then the answer is that you do!
Average Value – How Much Do These Cases Settle For?
The amount of value of a broken screw back surgery case, is based on the level of damage that the broken screw has perforated on the person’s body. The average value should be $1.5 Million – $5.5 Million on a broken screw back surgery case.
Questions Regarding If the Screw Can Be Removed?
A postoperative complication of a surgery for a back injury is to sustain a broken screw. If you have had a lumbar fusion, then there is always the risk of a hardware malfunction, failure or breakage. There are times that the hardware does not require a reoperation, but most times there will be the necessity to operate again. The need to operate again after a failed screw is very distressing, especially for someone who just had an operation and needs to recover fully from that surgical procedure.
Any time that there is an operation or a lumbar screw fixation device that is applied to a back fracture, there are going to be problems with the hardware in some cases. Back surgeries that include hardware can be stressful, and this type of equipment can fail or be defective in a number of cases. If you have had a broken screw in a back surgery, you need to give us a call right now. a broken screw in a back surgery can occur if the screw is loose, bent or broken, or if the screw is defective in any way. There are mechanical factors that can affect the likelihood that the screw will break after a surgical procedure.
What Are the Surgeries Needed – Future Medical Treatment Needed?
Future medical treatment for a broken screw back surgery can be extensive. Many people who have had a surgical procedure for a lumbar fusion have had an unsatisfactory relief experience for their symptoms. In the case of back pain, often there are surgical procedures that need to be performed in the future, to help relieve chronic back pain for the person suffering from this condition.
Interventions for failed surgical procedures to the back can include:
- Conventional medical management
- Analgesics
- Physical therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Nerve blocks
- Epidural injections
- Additional spinal fusion surgeries
- Implantation of a spinal cord stimulator
- Re-operation
Depending on the seriousness of the injury and the original surgery, you may or may not be required to have additional surgical procedures. If you do need additional surgical procedures after the repair of a broken screw in the back, you may need more recovery time as well to heal from your ordeal.
What is the Availability of Punitive Damages on This Type of Case?
As stated, the average value of a broken screw back surgery case should be $1.5 Million – $5.5 Million on a broken screw back surgery case. Of course, depending on the level of negligence on the part of the doctor and clinical staff in regard to the case, the punitive damages on this type of case could be even more than the original settlement offer.
What Is the Length of Time – How Long Does It Take to Settle These Cases?
It can take upwards of 8 months to 24 months as an average settlement time, to settle a broken screw back surgery case. Your medical bills will need to be reviewed, and this will take some time. It will also depend on any investigation by the insurance companies involved in the claim. If this is your situation, you will want to give us a call right now. We are here to help you, and are able to help you today.
Defective Hardware for Spinal Fusion
There are many people who have the spinal fusion surgery and report later that the screw broke in their spinal area. The radiographs of the area can show that the spinal fusion with screw rods is breaking, which puts fatigue and extraordinary stress on the spinal area of the back. Removing a broken pedicle screw in the spine is an arduous task. This is because a broken screw is never a clean break in half. More than likely, the screws break apart, shatter in many small pieces, then the shards of the broken screw imbed into the spine to cause more irreparable damage to that area.
The way to remove the shattered fragments of a broken screw can be a tricky endeavor and a highly dangerous follow up surgery for all parties involved. It is important even when removing the screw, to maintain the integrity of the rest of the pedicle screw that is in place int eh spine. The surgeon performing the follow up surgery is under a great strain and stress to get the second or third surgery correct.
Statute of Limitations in California for Follow Up Surgeries
It is noted that in the State of California, there is a statute of limitations of three years for medical malpractice to sue for recovery compensation on a claim. If you are injured by a doctor or surgeon for a medical device, you will want to call us and bring an action within this timeframe. If you have had lower back surgery and the titanium screw broke in your lower back, or had surgery whereby the titanium screws broke within a few months, you will want to give us a call right away.
Any time that the lumbar fusion screw implant broke, there will be questions of surgical technique, medical malpractice or other issues regarding the proper selection of screws for the spinal fusion operation. We are lawyers who specialize in broken screw lawsuit cases against neurosurgeons and spinal fusion surgical doctors. We have had success in winning these types of cases in the past. If you want to receive the recovery compensation that you are due in this type of case, you need an attorney who can help with broken screw back surgery lawsuits.
Lawsuits Against Spine Surgery Screw Manufacturers and Providers
Our law office are the attorneys that are experts in spine surgery broken screw cases, such as the cases against the following medical manufacturers and providers of these types of spinal fusion apparatus, including:
- Stryker pedicle screw
- B Braun pedicle screw
- Depuy screw
- Aero Medical
- Aesculap
- Alphatec Spine
- Beijing Fule Science & Technology Development
- Corentec
- Depuy Synthes
- Dieter Marquardt Medizintechnik
- EgiFix
- Elite Surgical
- Exactech
- GENOSS
- Globus Medical
- H.P.I. Medical
- IMECO
- K2M
- Nexxt Spine
- NORMMED Medical Devices
- Ortho Development
- Orthokey Italia
- OsteoMed
- Peter Brehm
- Precision Spine
- RD Medical
- SOFEMED International
- Spineart
- Stryker
- SurgTech
- Zhejiang Jiayou Medical Device
- Zimed Medical
- Z-Medical
Decompression Neurosurgery
If you have experienced a decompression injury, segmental decompression, or wide decompression with a multilevel lumbar foraminal stenosis with back pain, you need to give us a call immediately. You need to call us to discuss our case with our Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers. We can sue the neurosurgeon for improperly placing the screws and performing an unnecessary surgery on your spine in this case. You need to be with a personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles, who can sue for a broken screw medical malpractice lawsuit on our behalf. If you experienced a surgery with titanium screws that broke within a few months, then you should call us immediately to discuss your case.
Second Surgery the Screw Broke Again
In the even that you have had a lumbar fusion hardware, from Striker 2 titanium screws that broke, or had implant screws that fragmented in an unnecessary surgery – you need to give us a call. The reasons for these screws breaking can be multifaceted, but include:
- Inattention to where the screws were placed during surgery
- Misunderstanding or no knowledge of the dynamic stabilization needed to support the patient’s spine
- Misjudgment by the surgeon in placing the screws
- The wrong selection of screws for the surgery at hand
- Not realizing that the screws were defective or placed at the wrong angle in the spine to support stability
Products Liability Claim and Medical Malpractice Claim
If you have experienced a broken pedicle screw which resulted in an implant failure at the level of our spine, you can sue the doctor for improperly placing the screws and performing an unnecessary surgery. The pedicle screws used in the fixation of the spinal operations break for a reason. This reason usually includes issues with the wrong diameter size of screw chosen, improper imbedding into the bone, undetermined or unmeasured bone volume, misunderstood pullout force, or other factors that will lead to fracture. If the screws for the spinal surgery are misplaced, you may experience:
- Weakness and numbness
- Pedicle screws out of position
- L4 weakness
- L3 weakness
- L5 weakness
In these types of cases, it is not unusual to receive verdicts against the doctor, for having misplaced or misjudged the screws and their placement in the spinal surgery operation. You need to talk about this type of case with an experienced team of attorneys, who know how to win this case.
It is critical that you discuss this case with a lawyer with experience in maintaining and winning this type of action on a regular basis, not only sometimes. You require an attorney with expertise in these types of legal consequences brought out in this case. You will also need to be aligned with attorneys who specialize in the refined areas of the law applied here in this case, to get the compensation you need to recover from this injury.
Free Second Opinion
We are able to talk to you free of charge, and offer a free second opinion in your case. Our offer to you is to give you a free second opinion, at no charge any time you want to talk to us about your prior representation. All attorneys are not ready, able or experienced enough to defend this type of a case. If you have been in a car accident resulting in spinal fusion surgery, you need to be represented by the best legal team that knows what to do in these exact types of cases. If you give us a call now, you will be placed with the legal team that can give you the best advantage to winning your case.
Zero Fee Guarantee
It’s true, we don’t ask you to pay anything to us up front. Don’t expect to have to pay for the fee until we win – you won’t pay until then. We can explain more about this offer when you give us a call, but it is in effect every day of the week.
Slip and Fall Accident Resulting in Spinal Fusion Surgery
You may have suffered a slip and fall accident that put you in the place to have to undergo a spinal fusion surgery. In this case, you will also have pain and suffering, which is directly related to have undergone such a highly serious and invasive surgery. You have a legal case for a defective screw, when the implanted screw fractures in your spine. You also have a legal case for defective hardware and can sue both the doctor and product manufacturer in this situation.
Call for a Free Consultation
If you have been the victim of a broken back screw surgery and have an injury that you will need another surgery to heal, you should call us today. You can talk to us freely and discuss your case with us. We will be able to advise you on the next steps to bring a lawsuit against all responsible parties to your personal injuries related to the broken back screws that you have experienced.
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