Ingredients:
1 slightly injured teenager with long history of chronic illness and surgeries
1 reckless, ambitious podiatrist willing to use young patient as experimental guinea pig
Directions: Allow podiatrist to saw off a bone, cause severe chronic pain, and prescribe hundreds of narcotic pills.
Recently the Communications Director of Consumer Attorneys of California pointed out that even without the MICRA cap, my son's case might have been difficult to litigate, because it involves a part of the body for which people are almost completely unsympathetic, unless they have experienced similar problems themselves. In short, it's tough to get a jury beyond saying, "It's just a toe." We know. We've heard that several times, even from a nurse or two--although showing them the x-rays is fairly compelling. Anyone who says it is clueless. Not long ago Conan O'Brien asked Shaquille O'Neal during an interview what had been the most painful injury he sustained playing basketball. Without hesitation, O'Neal described an injury to his toes.
But the issue is not just a big toe or the potential loss of it, the the issue is pain: throbbing, stabbing, relentless, ever-present, distracting, debilitating pain--and the fact that it was totally unnecessary. "It's only a toe," but it caused severe chronic pain, years of prescription narcotic dependence, several more painful surgeries, loss of education, significant financial loss, disappointment, isolation and depression. "It's only a toe," but a combination of Duckworth's prescribed narcotics may have caused at least one episode of dangerous suicidal ideation. "It's only toe," but after two years it resulted in severe clinical depression, self-destructiveness, and an actual suicide attempt. Finally, endless trauma and medications triggered a psychiatric disorder that carries a 10% suicide risk for life. The devastation of our only child has devastated our lives, as well.
The other complication that had the potential to become fatal is the osteomyelitis (bone infection) that developed following the third revision attempt. Untreated, any such infection easily can lead to sepsis and death. To treat it, my son had a central line for administration of IV antibiotics for over 16 weeks, for the last two of them receiving medication around the clock via an infusion pump he carried in a backpack. For him, this treatment created nearly as much discomfort and fatigue as chemotherapy. He literally felt like he was dying. Ironically, because the IV frequently became occluded, he spent several sessions among cancer patients at the oncology center.
Funny, when someone needs a root canal or extraction, no one ever says, "It's only a tooth." But it's only a toe.
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