Former Virginia Inmate Wins $1 Million in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
When 32-year-old John Kinlaw was released from Luneburg Correctional Center in 2017, he filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Armor Correctional Health Services, Inc. According to the lawsuit, Kinlaw fractured his finger in a prison recreation yard. Prison medical staff failed to treat his fractured finger appropriately and ignored X-rays that showed he had a serious fracture. Instead, the medical staff simply gave him an ice pack and Motrin.
Kinlaw spent weeks complaining about his fracture and contacting Dr. Charles Nwaokocha to obtain medical treatment. However, the medical staff failed to properly stabilize his fracture or perform the surgery his hand needed to recover.
For over 100 days, Kinlaw told the medical staff that his finger wasn’t healing properly and couldn’t bend. On one instance, Doctor Nwaokocha told Kinlaw that he just needed more time before it healed properly. When he finally saw a specialist, the doctor confirmed that his hand had indeed healed incorrectly. Kinlaw may be facing an amputation.
Kinlaw filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and was recently awarded over $1 million, with $700,000 of that amount in compensatory damages and over $300,000 in punitive damages.
X-rays and Medical Malpractice
A radiologist is a doctor that is trained to read and interpret imaging including, but not limited to, X-rays and MRIs. The radiologist then cooperates and communicates with other physicians to help treat broken bones and other illnesses. The radiologist is important when diagnosing many diseases and illnesses. A mistake made in diagnosing a patient could be fatal or may result in permanent disability.
If a mistake is made, the radiologist may be to blame. In some situations, two or more physicians will share liability. Radiologists may cause mistakes by misreading image test results or improperly communicating the results with other doctors.
- Misreading an image. When interpreting an image, it is important that radiologists examine the image closely to look for multiple conditions or medical problems. Often, a radiologist is looking for one specific medical problem. This “tunnel vision” can make it easy to miss other abnormalities in the image.
- Communication failures – Radiologists must communicate their findings with the primary care physician or specialist. When a breakdown in communication occurs, the results can be disastrous. One Applied Radiology study found that communication issues were a factor in 80 percent of radiology malpractice cases.
Contact the leading Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Hilton & Somer, LLC to Learn More About Filing a Case
If you or someone you love suffered harm due to medical malpractice in Fairfax or anywhere in Northern Virginia, Washington DC or Maryland, you may face a long uphill battle for compensation. At Hilton & Somer, LLC, our Fairfax medical malpractice lawyers know that insurance companies don’t always play fair and that hospitals work tirelessly to avoid paying medical malpractice claims.
That’s why injured medical malpractice victims need an experienced and aggressive legal representative on their side from the moment they’re injured. Contact us at (703) 560-0700 for a free initial consultation and review of your potential case. We are here when you need us the most and will fight for you every step of the way.
Additional Resources
Just 3 Medical Misdiagnosis Errors Account for 75% of all Injuries
4 Things That Need to Be Established in a Medical Malpractice Case
