Podiatrist Performed Needlessly Complex Double Fusion, Sending Patient Through Three Revision Surgeries: $775,000 Settlement

In January 2018, a 55-year-old woman sought treatment for a bunion on her right foot. Rather than a simpler correction, her podiatrist performed a double-fusion procedure, combining a Lapidus procedure (fusing the first tarsometatarsal joint) with a first metatarsal-phalangeal joint fusion, secured with screws and a plate. The plaintiff's attorneys at Emroch and Kilduff argued the complexity was unwarranted and that the surgery was performed improperly from the start.

The initial operation left the patient's right big toe and metatarsal slightly elevated because the bone staples failed to penetrate deep enough to achieve adequate fusion between the metatarsal and the medial cuneiform. The structural failure set off a chain of corrective procedures. In August 2018, the podiatrist performed a first revision, but that surgery introduced a new problem: a misplaced screw and insufficient hardware fixation left the repair worse than before.

A third operation followed in April 2019, and the patient then underwent two more surgeries attempting to address the mounting hardware and bone problems. By the time litigation began, the plaintiff had endured five total procedures on her foot in roughly fourteen months.

William Kilduff and Christopher Spinelli represented the plaintiff. The defense maintained that the complications were known risks of the procedure and attributed the patient's ongoing pain to pre-existing conditions. The case settled for $775,000, reported in June 2022.