Controversial baseball star Alex Rodriguez has been in the news a lot lately. Major League Baseball recently suspended him for 211 games for alleged connections to a medical lab that supplied illegal performance-enhancing drugs to athletes. Rodriguez is appealing his suspension.
There are many twists and turns in Rodriguez’ story. Besides the suspension fight, he has recently returned to the field after a lengthy rehabilitation from hip surgery. That hip problem is the subject of a medical malpractice suit that Rodriguez is reportedly filing against the team doctor for the New York Yankees, the team he plays for.
According to CBS Sports, Rodriguez is accusing the team doctor of misdiagnosing his hip problems in the fall of 2012. The doctor examined his hips when Rodriguez reported feeling discomfort. The examination included an MRI. In his notes, the radiologist found no problems with the right hip.
But Rodriguez was later diagnosed by another doctor with serious problems in that hip, including a labrum tear, a cyst and an impingement. He underwent surgery in January and missed the first four months of the season.
The Yankees issued a statement saying that the team relied on the team doctor’s expertise. In addition to the medical malpractice suit, Rodriguez is filing a medical grievance against the team. His attorney says that the Yankees withheld information about his injured hip from him and played him in a compromised state in order to embarrass him.
Most cases of medical malpractice are not as high-profile as this one. But any misdiagnosis by a negligent doctor can cause long-term harm to the victim.
Source: CBS Sports, “Reports: A-Rod preparing malpractice suit against Yankees’ team doctor,” Mike Axis, Aug. 20, 2013
