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Batson v. South Louisiana Medical Center12/22/2000
e inexcusable in a hospital setting.
As the record demonstrates, although Dr. Woodstein ordered physical th erapy twice a day for Ms. Batson after she came under his care, this order was not carried out. He also ordered that a dynasplint be applied to her right knee for six to eight hours each morning in an attempt to stretch out her knee tendons. Dr. Woodstein candidly acknowledged that the dynasplint caused tremendous pain, that this treatment brought her to tears, and that at times she screamed out in pain while the dynasplint was in place. Nonetheless, he believed that he initially made some progress in reducing the severity of the flexion contractures in the right knee.
However, on March 31, 1999, when visiting Ms. Batson in her room, Dr. Woodstein discovered that the dynasplint remained in place and had been left on in error by the nursing staff for a period of twenty-one hours, rather than the eight hours ordered. He noted that Ms. Batson was in agony, and documented that the knee flexion contracture had increased due to the severe spasm caused by the extended use of the splint. This caused a total regression in any progress made by Dr. Woodstein in his treatment of Ms. Batson's contractures.
After allowing her knee to rest for twenty-four hours, Dr. Woodstein reinstituted the dynasplint therapy, which was continued until Ms. Batson's discharge from SLMC on April 4, 1991. Nonetheless, measurements of her contractures one week after her discharge demonstrated that she still had ninety-degree flexion contractures of the knees, and that ultimately, the dynasplint therapy had not been successful.
Upon her release from SLMC, Ms. Batson was unable to walk or even lift herself out of bed. Moreover, she suffered excruciating pain attributable to the contractures each time she was lifted out of bed by the nursing staff.
After being transferred from SLMC to Heritage Manor Nursing Home, Ms. Batson underwent extensive rehabilitative efforts through physical therapy. Nonetheless, despite these painful and exhausting efforts, Ms. Batson's contractures showed little improvement, and it became apparent that surgical release of the contractures would be necessary.
In March of 1993, Ms. Batson was examined by Dr. William Kinnard, an orthopedic surgeon, who noted that she had "quite severe," fixed flexion contractures of the hips, knees and ankles, with very limited range of motion. Dr. Kinnard ultimately performed surgery at Terrebonne General Medical Center to correct these contractures. He performed bilateral posterior capsular release and tenoplasty on the knees on May 2, 1994; bilateral hip flexor and adductor releases on June 27, 1995; and right ankle contracture release on July 3, 1995. These "very complex" and "extensive" procedures involved cutting the contracted tendons in a manner to gain length in the tendon, straightening the joint and suturing the tendons back together.
Following the hip and ankle releases, Ms. Batson was placed in a body cast for approximately two weeks. Thereafter, she was placed in a brace for eight weeks. She was then transferred to a rehabilitation unit at Terrebonne General Medical Center, where she remained until October of 1995.
With regard to the surgical outcome, Dr. Kinnard characterized the surgeries as successful, but he noted that he had been unable to get Ms. Batson back to a "normal position." However, the surgeries resulted in Ms. Batson being in a "much straighter position." These contracture releases ultimately allowed Ms. Batson to progress from a situation where she was only able to sit in a wheelchair to a situation where, over time and with extreme effort, she was able to
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