If you’ve ever had the misfortune of walking into a locker room, you know what unpleasant odors may greet you once you cross the threshold. Athletes and gym members use locker rooms to store their equipment and clothing. Oftentimes, they also include showers and bathrooms; hence the potential odors. More importantly, locker rooms are wet and damp areas, which are breeding grounds for deadly bacteria and viruses.
When locker rooms and other similar areas are not cleaned on a regular basis, bacteria and viruses can invade and pose potential health risks. These risks can include common problems, such as athlete’s foot. In rarer cases, however, a dirty locker room can be the ideal place for a MRSA virus to take root. The MRSA virus forms staph infections, which affect the skin and the body’s immune systems. According to medical experts, more than 30% of the population becomes affected by the MRSA virus at some point, though not all cases are serious. If left unattended, however, the infection can attack the immune system and cause major damage.
According to lawyersandsettlements.com, a Dallas County, Texas jury recently awarded a plaintiff $17.5 million in personal injury damages. The plaintiff, Mr. David Fitzgerald of Texas, contracted the MRSA virus several years ago, and sought treatment at a hospital in Dallas. At the time, however, doctors did not diagnose him with a staph infection. Instead, they gave him drugs to treat a different skin infection, one that was much less serious.
As time wore on, it became apparent to Fitzgerald that the medications he was being prescribed were not helping to heal his skin infections. When things became unbearable, he sought another medical opinion. By that time, Fitzgerald’s infection had progressed to a very dangerous point; doctors told him that he had MRSA, and that it had caused significant damage to his limbs. As a result, he required surgery to amputate both of his arms and both of his legs. He had no other choice. The infection had spread to each of his limbs and would have eventually killed him otherwise.
In the aftermath of this terrible discovery, Fitzgerald filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors that he originally saw in the Dallas hospital. He alleged that these doctors had misdiagnosed his skin issue, which eventually led to the necessary amputation of his limbs. After a long, grueling trial, the jury awarded him $17.5 million in personal injury damages. The damage award was one of the highest in Texas state history.
