Former dispatcher awarded $9.1 million in medical malpractice suit

A jury has awarded $9.1 million for medical malpractice to a former public safety dispatcher whose broken ankle almost 10 years ago led to complications and the eventual amputation of his leg.

The New York State Supreme Court jury awarded $2 million for past pain and suffering, $4 million for future pain and suffering and $2.8 million for past and future medical expenses and loss of wages. The jury also awarded his former wife $350,000 for loss of services.

The jury returned the verdict against the Doctor who treated him from 2005 to 2009, and the Knee Center of WNY, which has offices in Amherst and Orchard Park.

The victim, now 45, sought treatment for a broken ankle in October 2004 after he fell on steps on his way to work. He first received treatment from a physician at Excelsior Orthopaedics. The jury found no liability on the part of the physician or Excelsior Orthopaedics. He felt pain on the side of his foot near his little toe, evidence of an unusual nerve disorder, apparently caused by the ankle fracture.

About a year after the injury, he switched doctors, and the Defendant Doctor started performing surgeries on his little toe which was eventually amputated. He developed an infection after the amputation. The doctor then amputated the fourth toe, but the pain continued.

In July 2009, the doctor amputated the leg below the knee. He developed another post-surgical infection, requiring amputation of the remaining leg above the knee. That surgery was performed in September 2009 by another doctor.

In all, the defendant doctor performed 12 surgeries on the victim. He then filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors who treated him.

The jury delivered the verdict earlier this month before Justice John M. Curran in Buffalo. The trial lasted 15 days. He worked until the amputations in 2009, when he became disabled.

The loss of his leg has been devastating to him.

Thanks to James Staas and the Buffalo News.