Dispatcher Receives Large Malpractice Award

A former public safety dispatcher for the City of Tonawanda, New York, has received a $9.1 million medical malpractice award, after complications in the treatment of a broken ankle led to the amputation of his leg.

The State Supreme Court jury awarded Donald R. Schultz $2 million for past pain and suffering, $4 million for future pain and suffering, and $2.8 million for past and future medical expenses and loss of wages, The Buffalo News reports. Schultz’s former wife was awarded $350,000 for loss of services. The verdict came against Dr. Michael A. Parentis, who treated Schultz from 2005 to 2009, and the Knee Center of WNY, which has offices in Amherst and Orchard Park.

In October 2004, after falling on steps on his way to work as a public safety dispatcher, Schultz was treated for a broken ankle by a physician at Excelsior Orthopaedics. The jury found no liability on the part of the physician or Excelsior Orthopaedics. About a year after the injury, Schultz changed doctors, and Dr. Parentis began a series of surgeries on his little toe, Schultz’s attorney said. Parentis eventually amputated the little toe, and an infection led to the amputation of the fourth toe. Continuing pain resulted in the amputation of Schultz’s leg below the knee in July 2009, and, after another post-surgical infection, the leg above the knee was amputated. In all, according to The Buffalo News, Parentis performed 12 surgeries on Schultz.

Schultz, now 45, worked until disabled by the amputations in 2009, according to The Buffalo News.