CHARLESTON — A woman is suing CAMC Teays Valley Hospital alleging the hospital was negligent in its care when her knee became infected after replacement.
CAMC Orthopedics Teays Valley was also named as a defendant in the suit.
Charleston Area Medical Center is doing business as CAMC Teays Valley Hospital.
Donna Ring underwent a left knee arthroplasty performed by Dr. James Cox on Dec. 13, 2022, and followed up with his office for periodic visits, according to a complaint filed March 21 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Ring claims on Jan. 25, 2023, Cox performed an incision and drainage procedure in his office on her wound, and on Feb. 6, 2023, drainage was noted from the wound and she was instructed to change the dressings often. Cox did not culture the drainage or start Ring on antibiotics.
On Feb. 15, 2023, Ring was concerned that she had an infection and returned to Cox's office, but he did not aspirate the joint, nor did he order cultures or any other procedures. He also failed to order blood work, the complaint states.
Ring claims on Feb. 21, 2023, Cox took her to the operating room for surgical debridement and did not find any fistula or connection between the fluid encountered in the subcutaneous tissue. He sent the aspirated fluid for culture.
Four days later, the culture came back positive for MRSA, according to the suit.
Throughout the rest of 2023, she followed up with Cox and in September 2023, she sought a second opinion from Dr. Clark Adkins at WVU Medicine.
The following month, Adkins removed all total left knee components placed by Cox and performed an excisional debridement and insertion of articulated spacer, as well as antibiotic-impregnated beads, according to the suit.
Ring claims she had another excisional debridement in November 2023 and is currently scheduled for State II of her knee reconstruction on April 10 at WVU Medicine.
She claims Cox breached the standard of care. She claims Cox was negligent and careless.
"This is the fourth infected knee case against this doctor that we know of," Mark Staun, an attorney with Hartley Law Group who is representing Ring, said in an interview with The West Virginia Record. "Two of those have resulted in amputations."
Staun said what is troublesome about the whole ordeal is that CAMC is aware of everything.
"Obviously CAMC knows this is happening, they've even settled several of these cases early," Staun said.
Staun said this is the third case he has tried involving Cox and CAMC.
"This has got to stop," Staun said.
Ring is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is represented by Staun, James M. Barber and R. Dean Hartley of Hartley Law Group.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
In one of the previous cases, a man named Joseph Ramirez underwent a right total knee arthroplasty in 2013 and, following the operation, he had difficulty with his range of motion in his knee and underwent a right knee manipulation in 2016 followed by physical therapy to help restore some range of motion.
Ramirez continued to have a limited range of motion until in 2020, a serious infection occurred and in 2021 he was forced to undergo amputation.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 24-C-381
