A man was awarded $7.9 million in Idaho after the jury determined that a medical facility was negligent in its care, causing him to get paralyzed from the waist downwards. Shane Ackerschott, the plaintiff, sued Mountain View Hospital for negligence. He had gone to the hospital to get treatment for a back injury that had been sustained in 2014 while moving freight at his place of work. The plaintiff claimed that the staff at the hospital failed to accurately recognize the symptoms of this injury. He was therefore moved around the facility to undergo a series of tests. The movements in the medical facility were responsible for his paralysis.
The defense put up by the hospital was that Ackerschott should have gone to the emergency room instead of Medicare as he did. The handling of the medical case by the staff in the hospital was not right, as they should have inquired about the nature of the ailment or injury that the patient had. Back injuries are especially delicate, and the medical professionals at the hospital were best placed to know that owing to their medical training. The standard of care, therefore, was violated by the medical staff. It was not the responsibility of the patient to know which room or department of the hospital to go to. The medical staff should have directed him immediately to the emergency room. The hospital failed to fulfill that duty and instead subjected the patient to a series of tests that necessitated movements.
The behavior of the medical staff was deemed negligent leading to the plaintiff getting awarded the compensation. The case was concluded in mid-2018. Back injuries should be treated with caution, as they are likely to get worse if the right intervention is delayed or the patient subjected to movements in or outside the hospital.