Chiropractor Malpractice Attorneys Representing Clients Injured by Improper Chiropractic Care in New Jersey
As a medical professional licensed in managing back and neck pain, a chiropractor has extensive knowledge of the human neuro-musculoskeletal structure. They understand the relationship between bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves and its effect on a patient. They believe that subluxations, or vertebral misalignments, cause numerous diseases and conditions. As such, they may also advise patients about nutrition, exercise, alignment, and misalignment prevention through regular massage and chiropractic adjustments.
Numerous individuals find relief or maintain spinal and joint health with regular visits. However, chiropractic treatment can lead to serious injury. The adjustment, when a chiropractor applies sudden, rapid, and powerful manual force to joints, spine, or neck to extend their ranges of motion, can be dangerous when inexpertly performed or applied to a patient without explaining the risks.
Despite patients’ best intentions in seeking chiropractic care, chiropractor malpractice can and does occur when medical practitioners provide substandard, improper, or otherwise negligent treatment that causes their patients harm. Those injured and those who suffer worsening conditions and complications resulting from malpractice by chiropractors are entitled to hold these negligent providers accountable and seek compensatory and other damages for the undue suffering they have endured. Fronzuto Law Group is a firm composed of highly practiced, knowledgeable, and formidable medical malpractice lawyers who have recovered millions in verdicts and settlements for those injured by negligent medical professionals and facilities across the state of New Jersey. If you have questions regarding a chiropractic malpractice case, contact our legal team for a free consultation and review of your case at 973-435-4551.
Common Conditions and Reasons for Chiropractic Treatment
A person experiencing back pain may look for relief from a chiropractor. And yet, back pain is not the only complaint that prompts chiropractor visits. Stiffness, joint pain, low back pain, neck pain, muscle strains, arthritic joints, headache, arthritis, vertigo, infertility, fatigue, vertigo, and other complaints cause individuals to seek adjustments and pain management advice.
Types of Treatments and Therapies Offered by Chiropractors
An adjustment is a spinal manipulation typically applied to relieve pain or keep bones and joints aligned. Thus, when patients complain of pain, a chiropractor physically assesses them for muscle reflexes and may take X-rays to examine their spinal condition. They may adjust the patient, apply heat, cold or other therapies, and recommend continued adjustments to promote healing.
Risks of Chiropractic Stroke and Vertebral Artery Dissection
Chiropractic treatments have led to damaging health consequences, such as herniated disks, increased nerve pain, and stroke. A stroke may result from occlusion and dissection of the vertebral arteries originating from the neck. Two key neck arteries on either side of the neck that supply blood and oxygen to the brain and spine can be damaged during a neck adjustment. The force applied to the neck can cause a dissection or tear in vertebral arteries, affecting the blood flow and causing a stroke.
Occlusion or blockage may follow or occur later when clots form and travel to the brain, block an artery and impede blood flow. A stroke may occur immediately after the adjustment due to a dislodged clot causing blockage or when the clot already exists in the patient due to a vertebral artery dissection, and the following adjustment dislodges the clot. A chiropractor should be able to identify signs of vertebral artery dissection, such as headache, nausea, dizziness, double vision, eye twitching, and vomiting, among other indications. When those signs appear and a chiropractor performs an adjustment, they likely commit malpractice.
Timeframe of a Stroke After Chiropractor Adjustment
Even when the signs of an arterial tear do not appear, a stroke can still occur. Some strokes occur immediately after an adjustment, but others occur within hours or days of an adjustment. Stroke signs include slurred speech, arm or leg weakness on one side of the body, dizziness, neck pain, trouble swallowing, and difficulty walking. And the longer a stroke is left untreated, the likelier permanent injuries occur, such as paralysis, difficulty swallowing or talking, imbalance, memory loss, vertigo, fatigue, and emotional and behavioral changes. Therefore, chiropractors who cause and miss signs of a vertebral artery dissection, followed by stroke or heart attack symptoms, can leave a patient permanently injured or dead.
Unfortunately, the link between chiropractic adjustments and stroke may not be clear. Blood clots may form after a vertebral artery dissection but take time to break off and travel through the bloodstream to the brain. Days may pass between the adjustment and the stroke. Identifying the cause of the stroke as the chiropractic procedure may require expert examination of the clot’s origin and the occlusion’s location. For this reason, it is essential to have a dedicated team of medical malpractice lawyers such as ours at Fronzuto Law Group, thoroughly investigating the sequence of events in your chiropractic stroke case to identify the progression and connection between the chiropractic care you received and the subsequent stroke you suffered.
Other Complications Caused by Chiropractic Treatments
Some of the other possible complications that may result from improper chiropractic care include paralysis, arterial dysfunction, numbness or lack of feeling in other parts of the body, pinched nerves, migraines, herniated discs, muscle weakness, spinal stenosis, vertigo, fractures and broken bones, bladder problems, loss of function and other bowel issues, premature delivery if pregnant, as well as facial paralysis.
What if a Chiropractor’s Negligence Causes Harm in New Jersey?
While chiropractors routinely have patients sign consent forms notifying them of the risks of chiropractic treatment, that practice may not protect a chiropractor who negligently performs a chiropractic procedure or fails to assess a patient thoroughly before an adjustment. Standard precautionary chiropractic practices include taking a patient’s medical history, conducting a physical examination, taking x-rays or other diagnostic imaging, conducting a pre-adjustment spinal manipulation, discussing the risks of chiropractic adjustment with a patient and alternatives to chiropractic treatment, including a referral to a medical doctor for further discussion or treatment.
One of the risks that chiropractors should inform patients about is stroke, no matter how remote, so they can determine whether to undergo a chiropractic procedure. Failing to fully inform a patient about the procedures presented to them and the risks is typically negligence. A lack of informed consent deprives a patient of deciding whether to get further medical advice or seek alternate treatment. Regardless of the specific type of error or inadequate care that occurs on the part of a chiropractor, when a medical professional causes a patient injury by their negligence, they are liable to the patient for medical malpractice.
Chiropractor Malpractice Case Study
In one such case of chiropractor malpractice, a 34-year-old woman was treated by a chiropractor after an automobile accident. The woman experienced headaches after the accident but did not mention this to the chiropractor. The chiropractor performed one adjustment, and when the patient returned for the second, she suffered a stroke immediately after the neck adjustment. Emergency medical treatment and examination revealed that the patient suffered a vertebral artery dissection and a resulting clot that broke off and caused the stroke, leaving her with permanent cognitive, memory, and emotional losses.
Although the case settled before trial for $450,000.00, the allegations against the chiropractor included failure to diagnose the dissection, ascertain the nature of the patient’s headaches, and refer her to a specialist, and finally, failure to obtain informed consent from the patient about the dangers of having a neck adjustment. The plaintiff’s expert chiropractor witnesses were to testify that the chiropractor failed to follow standard chiropractic practices in pre-testing a patient before an adjustment and performing an adjustment without a neurological assessment of the patient’s condition.
Proving a Chiropractor Malpractice Lawsuit
A plaintiff must show a jury how the injury occurred and who caused it to be successful at a trial. Our extensively experienced medical malpractice trial attorneys at Fronzuto Law Group are talented at preparing and presenting malpractice cases on behalf of our clients during litigation. We know how to devise a strategy and tell the story of what happened so a jury can understand and interpret medical records and expert testimony to prove an injury, the cause, and the damages amount our clients deserve.
Our medical malpractice lawyers also know how to raise doubts to a jury about the medical professional’s defense by cross-examining witnesses and employing more qualified medical experts. Proving a chiropractor’s treatment caused a stroke takes qualified medical experts, and our connections to these experts are unparalleled due to our focus on medical malpractice law exclusively and our decades of experience handling these claims. When you have lost so much due to a chiropractor’s negligence, it is crucial to entrust your case to attorneys who regularly practice in this area, have connections to medical experts, understand medical terminology and the depth of investigating that goes into these cases, and how to demonstrate critical proof of causation.
Recoverable Compensation in Chiropractic Malpractice Claims
A medical malpractice claim against a chiropractor for damages can compensate a wrongly injured plaintiff for past and ongoing medical costs, financial losses, and pain and suffering. However, showing the extent of physical, financial, psychological, and long-term harm caused by negligent chiropractic care is no easy feat. Seeking help from a team of committed, accomplished malpractice lawyers is the most assured way to move forward with your lawsuit.
Get Experience on Your Side from New Jersey Chiropractor Malpractice Lawyers at Fronzuto Law Group
If you suspect that you or someone you love has been a victim of chiropractor negligence, finding out more about your rights and legal options for recovering compensation is a high priority, especially given the ticking time clock of New Jersey’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims. Whether you experienced a chiropractic stroke or other complications, or your condition or injury progressed further following improper care from a chiropractor, Fronzuto Law Group is ready to investigate, formulate, and aggressively pursue maximum damages on your behalf. Contact us today at 973-435-4551 to discuss the details of your case with a medical malpractice attorney who can assist you. We can also be reached anytime online.
