Sommers Schwartz attorney Matthew Turner filed a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a man who suffered serious injuries as a result of a hematologist’s failure to discontinue anticoagulant therapy.

On August 22, 2020, Melvin Arzola Jr. went to the ER at Henry Ford Health Clinton Township, complaining of back and abdominal pain. Dr. Bhadresh Nayak, a hematologist, diagnosed a renal infarction. Renal infarction is an interruption of blood flow to the kidney, which can result in cell necrosis and the loss of renal function.

Dr. Nayak prescribed an anticoagulation regime, including a drug called Eliquis and aspirin. Although there are serious risks associated with using such an anticoagulation therapy for more than six months after a renal infarction, Dr. Nayak did not provide a plan to stop the regime. He continued the therapy without any discussion or documentation of the risks and benefits of extending its use beyond six months and without obtaining Mr. Arzola’s informed consent.

As a direct result of his extended use of these anticoagulants, Mr. Arzola suffered a spinal hematoma that required urgent surgical intervention. Several hours following the surgery, he began to experience muscle weakness in his legs and feet. These symptoms were caused by a postoperative hematoma that had formed at the site of the surgery and was compressing the thecal sac (the fluid-filled membrane around the spinal cord). He was taken back to surgery to remove this hematoma.

The acute bleeding from the veins around the spine caused permanent spinal cord injuries. These affect the function of his lower extremities, bowel, and bladder. In his lawsuit, Mr. Arzola seeks compensation for his past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of wages and earning capacity, mental anguish and humiliation, and other damages and losses.