Prescription medications and lack of treatment caused me to have to have my leg amputated. Is this medical malpractice?

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Question:

My G.I. doctor prescribed me various medications for my crohn's disease, and I was also seeing a regular family doctor. At this time both doctors had me taking around 25 pills a day. I believe that both doctors did not check to see if the prescriptions they were giving me either cause any side affects or any blood clots. After taking all this medications for about 3 weeks my body began to react to the medication abnormally. Both my legs began to become inflamed, hurt, swell, and my right foot became discolored, sort of bluish looking.

I started going to my regular family doctor complaining to him that I was having trouble with my right foot and my foot was hurting. So the first time he prescribed me some muscle relaxers and I went home. After a week with no change, I began to get a black dot under my right toe, so I went back to the doctor and complained about that. The doctor did not tell me that this was gangrene forming and he did not immediately send me to see a podiatrist. He poked at my right foot and said that he noticed discoloration but still did not tell me that it was gangrene forming.

All the while he sent me home and the gangrene began to grow and grow, I was taking showers getting the gangrene wet at the time I did not know it was gangrene. I was constantly going to my doctor complaining about my foot and instead of sending me to a podiatrist he sent me to see a vascular surgeon. I also was sent to several other vascular doctors and all the while the gangrene is still spreading in my right foot. My family doctor did not send me to a podiatrist still at this point. I was still wetting the foot because at this point nobody told me it is gangrene and not to wet it.

To make a long story short, the doctor did not send me to a podiatrist until my whole right foot was fully gangrenous. When I finally saw a podiatrist he immediately told me that I had gangrene on my right foot and not to wet it anymore and he referred me to see a vascular surgeon that would talk to me about an amputation.

When I saw this vascular surgeon he explained to me that he could not save my foot and I would have to undergo a right leg below the knee amputation. I lost wages because I was working before both doctors started prescribing me all these different medications. My leg is still in the process of healing, I have not received a prosthesis as of yet.

Do I have any legal rights in this case? Is this something that would constitute medical malpractice?

Answer:

You may have a case of medical negligence if the doctors failure to diagnose the gangrene was something that should have been done according to accepted medical standards of care. You will need to talk to a medical malpratice lawyer to get legal advice regarding the strength of your case.

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