Q: Can I take a physician to court for not providing proper pain relief after major spine surgery?
After the surgery while still in the hospital. The surgeon APRN came in for a visit. I told her I'm in horrible pain and that the 2 7.5 mg hydrocodone every 4 hours isn't helping. I've been on 4 10mg hydrocodone for 10 plus years. Nothing was done until I called the doctor's office and explained that to them. Now I'm released and I'm still not getting any help and I'm taking the same prescription as I was before the surgery. I tried to talk with my surgeon, but it's like the nurses block me from doing so
A: If you are in Arkansas, this would be a difficult case but a patient in pain should have adequate pain relief. I would need to know about your prior prescription history (Donets seem reasonable to prescribe less pain meds immediately after surgery than the patient was on without surgery (maybe later if the surgery is a success, but not immediately afterwards during acute recovery. With that said, proving damages (the money value of how much the extra pain harmed you as determined by a jury) would probably make this case uneconomical for an attorney to pursue. You might file a complaint with the Arkansas State Medical Board if it is here and they will investigate (including having the doctor explain). The instructions on on the zboards website. Best of luck, Darren.
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