Sommers Schwartz attorney Robert Sickels filed a medical malpractice action involving a contraindicated epidural injection and a subsequent failure to timely treat the plaintiff’s progressive neurological deficits. The lawsuit claims that the defendant anesthesiologist-pain management physician diagnosed the plaintiff with thoracic radiculopathy, myalgia, hypertension, and intervertebral disc disorder, for which he recommended and performed the lumbar injection and trigger point injections in the thoracic paravertebral musculature. Within 20 minutes of the procedure, the patient complained of excruciating pain and was transferred to the defendant hospital’s emergency room, where it was noted she had bilateral lower extremity numbness and back pain. The patient waited 4.5 hours after her arrival to be seen by the defendant ER doctor, and subsequent delays in imaging and surgical intervention, during which time she developed an extensive intradural hematoma resulting in severe spinal stenosis with displacement of the spinal cord. The plaintiff alleges that the diagnosis leading to the initial injections was not supported, and that the ER physician’s failure to timely assess her condition and seek a neurological consultation caused her to suffer permanent injuries, prolong therapy and rehabilitation, pain and suffering, and an inability to perform daily living activities without assistance. The suit is currently pending in Bay County, Michigan Circuit Court.