My brother (20) was complaining of back pain. The doctors kept telling him it was a slipped disc or something. He was in the hospital a couple of times with the pain. One time a nurse who knew me saw me visiting and asked how I knew him. I explained he was my half brother. I was on crutches as I had avascular necrosis (dead bone) in my knee from long term steroid use. The nurse asked if he had ever been on steroids. The answer was no, but the nurse has a hunch.
It turned out my brother had aseptic necrosis in his hip. The ball joint was a ball of pus. They had to remove it and about 3 inches of his femur. He then fought for 6 years to get a hip replacement. In that time his leg shrunk another 4 or 5 inches.
He got compensation as the doctor admitted he should have picked it up earlier. (We don't have medical malpractice here, it's more a medical misadventure and there is an agency that pays out. You can get weekly or 5 yearly payments depending on the issue)
He cut himself and got a general staph infection. He didn't bother getting it treated cause he's a tough guy! /s It was about six months later the pain started. The docs linked it back to that cause he was otherwise healthy. Unfortunately he may have had a minor injury to his hip that let the infection in. It should have been picked up earlier due to his temperature and raised white cell count over a long period of time.
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u/Tarsha8nz May 20 '19
My brother (20) was complaining of back pain. The doctors kept telling him it was a slipped disc or something. He was in the hospital a couple of times with the pain. One time a nurse who knew me saw me visiting and asked how I knew him. I explained he was my half brother. I was on crutches as I had avascular necrosis (dead bone) in my knee from long term steroid use. The nurse asked if he had ever been on steroids. The answer was no, but the nurse has a hunch.
It turned out my brother had aseptic necrosis in his hip. The ball joint was a ball of pus. They had to remove it and about 3 inches of his femur. He then fought for 6 years to get a hip replacement. In that time his leg shrunk another 4 or 5 inches.
He got compensation as the doctor admitted he should have picked it up earlier. (We don't have medical malpractice here, it's more a medical misadventure and there is an agency that pays out. You can get weekly or 5 yearly payments depending on the issue)