{"pk":1139,"title":"Let’s Be Honest: These Medical Malpractice Cases Were a Pain in the Back","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Introduction:\n This series reviews three cases of back pain where a highly morbid diagnosis was missed by an emergency physician and subsequently successfully litigated.\nCase Report:\n We review the clinical entities of spinal epidural abscess and cauda equina syndrome, challenging diagnoses that can be easily missed and lead to patient harm if not treated promptly. Here we offer suggestions for recognizing these conditions quickly, performing an adequate history and exam, and using documentation to support decision-making.\nConclusion:\n When confronted with an unfortunate medical outcome, maintaining honesty is of paramount importance in medical-legal environments.","language":"en","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\r\n\r\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"back pain"},{"word":"cauda equina syndrome"},{"word":"spinal epidural abscess"},{"word":"medicolegal"},{"word":"medical malpractice"},{"word":"documentation honesty."}],"section":"Medical Legal Case Report","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8p8551m8","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Samuel","middle_name":"Isaias","last_name":"Garcia","name_suffix":"","institution":"Mayo Clinic, Department of Emergency Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Summer","middle_name":"","last_name":"Ghaith","name_suffix":"","institution":"Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Scottsdale, Arizona; Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Tempe, Arizona","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Gregory","middle_name":"","last_name":"Moore","name_suffix":"","institution":"Mayo Clinic, Department of Emergency Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Rachel","middle_name":"","last_name":"Lindor","name_suffix":"","institution":"Mayo Clinic, Department of Emergency Medicine, Scottsdale, Arizona","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Sara","middle_name":"","last_name":"Hevesi","name_suffix":"","institution":"Mayo Clinic, Department of Emergency Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota","department":"None"}],"date_submitted":"2022-02-28T20:57:30-08:00","date_accepted":"2022-02-28T20:57:30-08:00","date_published":"2022-02-28T20:58:23-08:00","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uciem_cpcem/article/1139/galley/879/download/"}]}