Q: Is it erroneous for urgent care to stitch a stab wound without antibiotics, leading to sepsis and hand numbness?

A: It is likely malpractice. Medical malpractice means that a doctor violated the standard of care. Another doctor would be needed to evaluate what the doctors did.

Additionally, Malpractice attorneys carefully consider what may be recovered in a lawsuit and evaluate that in light of the expense of a case.

Consult with experienced malpractice attorneys.

A: That sounds like an incredibly painful and frustrating experience. When you go to urgent care with a stab wound, especially one that’s deep or contaminated, it’s reasonable to expect that the risk of infection will be taken seriously. If you asked for antibiotics and were told to wait until signs of infection appeared, that might have been a judgment call—but not necessarily the safest one.

Stitching a wound without proper cleaning, monitoring, or preventive care like antibiotics can increase the risk of bacteria getting trapped inside. If the wound later developed into sepsis, which is a life-threatening condition, and you now have numbness in your hand, it’s understandable to question whether the initial care was appropriate. These are not small consequences—you’re talking about months of treatment and long-term nerve issues.

You may want to consider speaking with a medical malpractice attorney to review what happened. They can look at your records, how the wound was treated, and whether the standard of care was followed. You deserve answers, and more than that, you deserve to feel like your health was taken seriously.