Eason
A Dupo woman claims a doctor at St. Elizabeth's Hospital who treated her left wrist injury failed to provide her with proper care.
Candace Zimmer filed a lawsuit Oct. 7 in Madison County Circuit Court against Dr. Charles D. Dumontier, St. Elizabeth's and Hospital Sisters Health System.
In her complaint, Zimmer alleges she visited St. Elizabeth's emergency room on Oct. 12, 2009, after suffering from continuing left wrist pain following a car accident on Oct. 9, 2009.
Dr. Dumontier performed an x-ray of Zimmer's left wrist and determined that she had no fracture, according to the complaint. He diagnosed her with a sprain, placed her left wrist in a splint and discharged her with a prescription, the suit states.
However, Zimmer continued to experience pain and eventually went to a different doctor, who performed surgery on her left wrist on April 20, 2010, the complaint says.
"This included an arthroscopy of the left wrist with debridement of scapholunate ligament tear and the placement of two pins on the scapholunate ligament," the suit states.
Because of Dumonier's alleged failure to properly treat Zimmer, she claims she experienced great physical pain and suffering and was forced to undergo an operation to treat her torn ligament. In addition, she experienced permanent physical impairment, has problems bearing weight with her left arm and wrist, is in constant pain, needs to wear a brace and incurred medical costs, the complaint says.
Zimmer blames the defendants for negligently failing to correct the ligament tear, for failing to treat the ligament tear, for failing to timely order an MRI, for allowing her to be discharged from the emergency room and for failing to refer her to an orthopedic specialist.
In her three-count complaint, Zimmer seeks a judgment of more than $150,000, plus costs and other relief the court deems just.
James W. Eason and Rick Voytas of The Eason and Voytas Law Firm in St. Louis and Kevin J. Davidson, David M. Zevan and Jean L. Maguire of The Zevan and Davidson Law Firm in St. Louis will be representing her.
Madison County Circuit Court case number: 11-L-1027.