Pain Shot Caused Boy's Infection, Requiring 6 Surgeries, Mom Says
5-25-2014 16:24:00


     ALAMEDA, Calif. (CN) - A 14-year-old boy got a serious infection after Kaiser doctors gave him painkiller shots in the buttocks, his mother claims in Alameda County court.


     Jesus Maldonado sued Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and The Permanente Medical Group, through his guardian ad litem and mother, Teresa Hernandez.

     Jesus hurt his left wrist playing soccer on Feb. 3, 2011, and went to Kaiser’s Walnut Creek facility the next day where X-rays revealed a fracture. Doctors sent the boy home with a splint but he returned later that day because his wrist hurt, according to the complaint.

     Kaiser staff then gave Jesus two shots for the pain, one in each buttock, and trouble ensued, the complaint states.

     “The injection in the right buttock was painful and the site bled freely. The left buttock injection was uneventful,” the complaint states.

     Hospital staff discharged Jesus to his parents’ care after replacing the wrist splint despite trouble with the right injection site, according to the complaint.

     “Jesus was unable to walk out of the Emergency Department following the injections, with almost immediate pain in his right buttock and in his right foot,” the complaint says.

     The next day, a Saturday, “Jesus stayed at home. His right buttock hurt, he could barely walk; he felt shaky, hallucinating at times and his right foot was painful,” the complaint states.

     Jesus went back to Kaiser the next day with a fever of nearly 103, body aches, a heart rate over 140, chest pain, right foot pain, swelling of his left fingers and a tender right buttock, according to the complaint.

     “With a sepsis-like picture, Jesus was admitted,” the complaint says. “Blood cultures were drawn and proved positive for Group A Beta Hemolytic Streptococcus (strep pyogenes) isolated.” (Parentheses in complaint.)

     Jesus was treated with intravenous antibiotics and transferred to Kaiser’s Oakland facility the next day. At that hospital, Jesus had a pediatric infectious disease consultation with a doctor who believed the infection had been introduced at the right buttock injection site, according to the complaint.

     MRIs of his left forearm suggested wrist joint sepsis and abscesses in his hand and/or wrist and Jesus endured “multiple orthopedic surgical procedures, six or seven in total” to repair the damage, the complaint states.

     Jesus and his mother seek damages for medical costs, loss of earning capacity, pain, suffering, disability and disfigurement. They are represented by Michael J. Mandel in San Francisco.

RG14-725443