When most people visit an urgent care clinic for treatment, there’s an expectation that they will receive whatever care they need. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Last year on August 31, 2017, Trenton Twidwell visited an urgent care clinic in Overland Park for a wound on his left foot. At the time, the wound was small, according to a lawsuit filed in Johnson County Court. However, two weeks after visiting the clinic, Twidwell’s leg was “gangrenous and dying and had to be amputated.”
When most people visit an urgent care clinic for treatment, there’s an expectation that they will receive whatever care they need. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Last year on August 31, 2017, Trenton Twidwell visited an urgent care clinic in Overland Park for a wound on his left foot. At the time, the wound was small, according to a lawsuit filed in Johnson County Court. However, two weeks after visiting the clinic, Twidwell’s leg was “gangrenous and dying and had to be amputated.”
As a result of his ordeal, Twidwell filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor who cared for him at the Overland Park CareNow clinic, Kristin Duncan. According to the suit, Twidwell first went to the clinic to have a “small, circular crater on the bottom of his left foot” treated. The small wound was “open and draining and redness was covering the majority of the upper and side part of his foot,” according to the suit. The suit stated that “his entire foot was warm to the touch,” but after examining his foot, Duncan told him he simply had cellulitis and prescribed him an antibiotic. According to the suit, she “didn’t culture the wound or order any lab work.”
Michael Rader, Twidwell’s lawyer, said:
“In essence, his infection was easily treatable, just not with oral broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy. Had the doctor done any workup or testing she could have easily identified the infection and its severity.”
Instead, Twidwell was left to suffer as his condition got progressively worse and worse. A week after visiting the clinic for the first time, Twidwell called Duncan to report “that his condition was worsening and his foot was so sore he couldn’t walk on it.” Duncan allegedly told him to “give the antibiotic time to do its job and wrote him a refill.” Later, on September 14, 2017, Twidwell returned to the urgent care and was “diagnosed with gangrene and sent to the emergency room at Shawnee Mission Medical Center.”
At Shawnee Mission Medical Center, he was diagnosed with sepsis. The suit states:
“By this time the infection was systemic and advanced past the point of antibiotic therapeutic treatment. Additionally, the tissue on his left foot was not viable. As a result, he underwent a high left below-knee amputation.”
How has CareNow responded to the lawsuit, though? For starters, Leecy Chiles, the marketing director in CareNow’s corporate offices in Texas, said “CareNow urgent care is committed to providing the highest quality healthcare for our patients,” but added that she “can’t comment on Twidwell’s care or Duncan’s employment.” She said, “We must honor the legal obligation to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our patients and our staff. Therefore we can not disclose any information regarding this matter.”
As a result, Twidwell’s suit accuses Duncan of “medical negligence and lost chance of making a full medical recovery.”
So far, Duncan has not responded to requests for comment.
Sources:
Trip to urgent care for foot wound ended in gangrene and leg amputation, lawsuit says
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