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Aldridge v. Family Health and Occupational Centers3/20/2003
UNPUBLISHED
Plaintiff appeals as of right the trial court's grant of summary disposition to defendants, pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10), in this medical malpractice action. We affirm.
I. Factual and Procedural Background
On November 19, 1996, plaintiff was working as a carpenter for Vision Construction in Royal Oak. Plaintiff was carrying a steel beam at work when he "felt something pop" in his neck. A co-worker immediately drove him to defendant First Care Medical Centers ("First Care"), now known as Family Health and Occupational Centers. At this initial visit, plaintiff was seen by Dr. Sharon Sneed. According to the medical record, plaintiff complained that he had been experiencing neck and shoulder pain for the past two months but with no recollection of an injury. The record further stated that plaintiff noticed subtle weakness in his right arm and shoulder. However, Dr. Sneed noted in the record that plaintiff used a sledge hammer and continued to have a strong grip. Dr. Sneed ultimately diagnosed plaintiff with right shoulder strain due to overuse, proscribed Motrin, and told plaintiff to return in a week to see if the pain subsided.
When plaintiff returned to First Care on November 26, 1996, he was seen by defendant White. According to the medical record, plaintiff complained of lost strength in his neck and continued pain. Plaintiff also informed defendant White that he was experiencing recurrent numbness and occasional twitching in his left upper extremity and hand. After examining plaintiff, defendant White determined that he had acute cervical strain and cervical radiculopathy of the left upper extremity. Pursuant to this diagnosis, defendant White recommended that plaintiff attend three sessions of physical therapy and gave him a ten-pound weight restriction. Plaintiff admits that he did not follow the weight restriction and that he only attended one of the physical therapy sessions because of his work schedule. Plaintiff alleged that he continued taking the prescribed painkillers and muscle relaxants.
On January 13, 1997, plaintiff awoke and was unable to move his neck and experienced severe pain and numbing in his right arm. As a result, plaintiff went to the emergency room at William Beaumont Hospital. Plaintiff informed the emergency room physicians that the numbness in his arm began about a week after his injury but that the loss of strength was a recent development. The Beaumont physicians diagnosed plaintiff with a musculoskeletal strain in his right arm with possible radiculopathy. Plaintiff was instructed to stay home from work until he was seen by a physical therapy and rehabilitation specialist.
On February 12, 1997, the physicians at Beaumont conducted an electromyogram ("EMG") due to the continued pain experienced by plaintiff. The results of the EMG were abnormal and plaintiff was consequently scheduled to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI"). The MRI taken on March 12, 1997, revealed that plaintiff had an intramedullary tumor in his spine. Plaintiff alleged that Dr. Rick Olson explained to him that the tumor would have to be surgically removed by opening his spinal cord. When Dr. Olson informed plaintiff that there was an eighty percent chance of quadriplegia and a seventy percent chance of being ventilator dependant after such a surgery, plaintiff decided to take a golfing trip to Myrtle Beach before the surgery. Plaintiff testified that he was able to play his "normal game" when he went on vacation.
On April 8, 1997, Dr. Olson performed a biopsy on plaintiff but did not excise the tumor. Rather, plaintiff was referred to Dr. Fred Epstein, a neurosurgeon in New York who specialized in the
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