A Spokane man in his early thirties underwent a lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injection to address his complaints of lower back pain. He emerged with a spinal cord injury, causing loss of the uses of his legs, control of his bowel and bladder, and sexual function. The defendants were the interventional anesthesiologist who performed the procedure and one of his partners, the neurosurgeon who referred our client to the anesthesiologist.
This was an extremely difficult case. The problem was establishing the reason why this happened and proving that it was preventable. We spent endless hours researching and talking to experts about these procedures and the medications used in them.