Couple Files Malpractice Lawsuit for Missed Diagnosis

An Indiana couple has filed a lawsuit against a Fort Wayne orthopedics company and claims the doctors there missed a blood clot diagnosis that cause a woman to lose her leg.

Jeanette and Allen Presley filed the suit in an Allen Superior Court and are seeking compensatory damages from Orthopaedics Northeast, the Journal Gazette reports. The legal action comes after the state's medical review panel ruled that the medical facility failed to comply with appropriate standards of care.

The lawsuit states that Jeanette Presley visited Orthopaedics Northeast three times in March 2006 with reported signs and symptoms of a vascular problem in her leg. Court documents say that the medical staff at the time did not diagnosis the vascular problem and instead injected her knee on two of three visits.

A month later, Jeanette Presley was allegedly admitted into Parkview Hospital for the loss of blood flow to her right foot as well as a "large acute blood clot" in an artery that supplies blood to the knee and thigh, according to the article. Because of this condition a doctor was forced to amputate her leg on April 14, 2006.