Malpractice? Need some advice please

[aigel]

It is overall poor judgement to call it a day after a visit to Urgent Care. And that's only the OP's fault. In the car world it equals going to AutoZone to get your battery checked and derive from it that your charging system is in top shape even though you had starting issues that morning ... every reasonable gear head would follow up with more in depth diagnostics.

G

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by targa911S

an error in diagnosis does not constitute malpractice.

I think it depends (but I agree with the gist of what you're saying). It depends on the magnitude of the error. It depends on who makes the error. And it also depends on whether a lawsuit progresses to a jury trial, as at that point anything can happen--regardless of the medical facts and science involved.

I just wanted the OP to go in with realistic expectations. Just because something bad happened doesn't mean there was malpractice. And as you point out, there can even have been a mistake in diagnosis or care, and that still does not necessitate malpractice. There's a degree of "it depends." As someone has already pointed out, 80-90% of malpractice lawsuits are found in favor of the medical provider; so 80-90% of the time, the attorney doing the suing was wrong (or incompetent, take your pick--heck, if you lose the lawsuit against the doc, then go sue your attorney for bungling the original lawsuit).

Regarding statute of limitations, every state is different, but also there is a concept of when it became known to the injured party that a negative outcome was related to an original adverse event (and that differs from state to state). So you could have had an injury years ago, but if you only recently discovered that the injury resulted in current problems, then the "statute of limitations" may vary. I'm not a lawyer, so I know I'm blowing the exact legal terminology.

An "applicant attorney" -- at least in California, where I live -- is the attorney who represents the plaintiff (to use a Judge Wapner reference, though there are other less endearing terms used in our vernacular).

[Linderpat]

Originally Posted by Noah930

.... I'm not a lawyer, so I know I'm blowing the exact legal terminology.

I'd say you nailed it all rather well.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

The urgent care centre stated that nothing was broken. So they did their part however if I was them I would have recommended going to see a specialist as a follow up.

It is almost guaranteed that they did. I would be willing to wager he signed a piece of paper with those instructions on it.

Actually, you do regrow bone, and the hyaline(articular) cartilage will repair itself with fibrocartilage(scar tissue)

I would still be interested to know the source of that bone fragment, by which I mean knee or ankle and what it was knocked off of.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by gacook

If you truly love your active lifestyle, you learn to deal with the pain...

I kind of disagree. Not saying it applies to OP, but in general, if you truly love your active lifestyle, you learn to take time off and let yourself heal correctly, since you're in this for the long haul. This can mean taking a year away from your favorite activity. That's why it's best to diversify your hobbies.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by mudman

playing with cars is my only hobby that doesn't involve physical exertion.

Damn, working on a car too long can wipe me out!

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by mudman

Meet with the specialist/surgeon and he ...glances at my ankle and says "WTF is this!"

What did he immediately see that you didn't notice for 2 years?