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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Kaiser ER Doc Under-Diagnosed Torn Tendon

VALLEJO, Calif. (CN) - A Kaiser doctor said a woman had a sprained ankle, but it was really a ruptured Achilles tendon requiring surgery, she claims in Solano County Court.

Regina Porter sued Masoud Mehraban, M.D. for professional negligence and Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

According to Porter's complaint, she fell off a concrete platform at her apartment building when she stepped backward to make room for a woman in high heels carrying a glass and a bottle of Champagne on New Year's Eve, 2010.

"Her leg unexpectedly plunged two and/or two and a half feet down to the dirt surface adjacent to the concrete platform from which she had fallen," her complaint states.

Porter knew she was hurt but "thought she had a sprained ankle, and she opted to wait a day or two, instead of rushing over to the emergency room right away," she recalls in the complaint.

On Jan. 2, 2011, she went to Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, where Dr. Masoud Mehraban diagnosed the injury as a sprained ankle and prescribed "bed rest, Ibuprofen, and a pair of crutches," Porter says.

"During the course of the next couple of weeks the intense pain plaintiff experienced in her lower leg intensified instead of diminishing, and went from excruciating to unbearable, thus forcing plaintiff to return to the Kaiser emergency room," she continues.

On Jan. 18, a different Kaiser doctor correctly diagnosed the injury as a ruptured Achilles tendon that would require surgery, which was performed on Jan. 26 - followed by physical therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic care, according to Porter's complaint.

Plaintiff seeks economic and non-economic damages, hospital and medical expenses, costs of suit and for Kaiser to be found vicariously liable for Mehraban's negligence.

She is represented by Theodore R. Johnson of Summit Law Office in Oakland.

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