What Happens if a Broken Bone is Not Adequately Treated?

The skeletal system provides the framework of the body. Failing to treat broken bones adequately may create numerous complications. The impacts on your health and recovery may be consequential. While treatment of many broken bones occurs without consequence, inadequate treatment may impact your quality of life long-term.

Discuss possible legal action to support your recovery for negligence by a medical provider or facility. Speaking with a Portland medical malpractice attorney at Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys PC can help you discover legal alternatives for compensation. Our firm retains small caseloads to provide exceptional service to combat the impact of medical negligence on our clients.

Dangers of Improperly Treating a Broken Bone

Unless health conditions or severe injuries prevent the union of a broken bone, bones generally heal well, resulting in minimal complications. However, when treatment is not adequate, broken bones may create further health complications. Further extensive care may involve specialists and therapists and even require extensive time away from work to heal. Over time, these damages accumulate as expenses to you.

Nonunion, Delayed Union, and Malunion of a Bone

When broken bones do not receive adequate care, the bone may fail to heal at the break, leading to a nonunion. Additional screenings, such as CT scans, MRIs, and X-rays, are generally necessary to determine the stage of bone healing. An assessment of how the injury occurred is essential to provide further treatment and may require the following:

Swelling, pain, and inflammation may also accompany a nonunion. Medications to prevent infection may be necessary. Without adequate treatment, malformity may occur. Nonunion occurring near a joint may lead to abnormal wear on the joint, eventually leading to arthritis. A medical malpractice attorney with our firm will work to determine if a physician’s actions were outside of the standard of care in your treatment. Appropriate stabilization of a broken bone is critical to healing.

New tissue growing slowly over months results in delayed union of the bone. At other times, the bone may heal but not grow straight, becoming malunited. A physician’s failure to treat a broken bone can compromise your recovery, leading to ongoing pain and the inability to perform a job or daily activities.

Steps to Take if a Broken Bone is Not Adequately Treated

According to the cited study, the bone’s nonunion rate varies between 1.9% to 10%. Not all incidents of nonunion are the result of inadequate treatment. However, suppose the treatment you receive for a broken bone leads to the need for further medical care, creating significant adverse health outcomes and costs for you. In that case, our medical malpractice attorneys in Oregon offer a free case evaluation to determine how we can provide legal assistance.

Gather your medical documentation and contact Paulson Coletti Trial Attorneys PC. Waiting to contact us may lead to losing vital evidence in your claim. Time limits also apply to any legal action. After a review of your claim and agreement to legal representation, we will begin working to secure your right to pursue compensation.