BBGA Attorneys Jim Matthews and Drew Hill are representing a National Football League player in a medical malpractice lawsuit involving a failed knee surgery.
Our client injured his right knee while playing in a game in 2020. An MRI revealed he had suffered a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The team’s physician diagnosed him with a grade 2 ACL tear in his right knee and he underwent ACL reconstruction surgery by an Atlanta-area orthopedic surgeon.
Following his surgery, the surgeon told him that everything went well and there were no complications. He began physical therapy. While following the recommended course of treatment, our client experienced continued swelling in his knee, pain, soreness, and limited range of motion. Our client’s knee condition did not improve with physical therapy. His knee did not regain its flexibility and suffered a dramatic extension block, which means he could not extend it fully.
Our client alleges that he eventually sought further evaluation by the NFL team’s doctor who determined that the ACL surgery was done incorrectly, and a revision surgery was necessary. Our client also contends that he then got a second opinion from another team’s doctor who determined that the initial surgery was the cause of the extension block, that an MRI revealed evidence of ACL tunnel malposition, and that the grafted ligament had been placed in the wrong position.
Our client further alleges that he had to have a second surgery to repair the damage and that the surgeon who performed the revision surgery, the orthopedic surgeon for the Dallas Cowboys, concluded that the initial ACL graft was the primary cause of our client’s inability to move his knee, and that the surgery had to be completely re-done.
Professional athletes who undergo ACL surgeries routinely heal and return to their prior form in about nine months. Our client contends that if the initial surgery had been done correctly, he would have recovered before the next NFL season and would have been well-positioned to receive a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract. Instead, he needed a second surgery and did not join an NFL team until nearly a year later. As a result, he earned a small fraction of the compensation he would have earned had the first surgery been successful. His prolonged recovery has also negatively affected his long-term career and earning ability.
Please call our office at 706-354-4000 to schedule a free consultation or contact us using our online form for more information about our legal services to medical malpractice victims throughout Georgia.
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