4/18/2023 0 Comments Stefan kaiser md duluth mn![]() "They gave me something to calm me down but said I had to lay on my back for the next 24 hours."Ī post-operative MRI report said Massino's spinal cord was nicked and was leaking fluid. When she woke up from the surgery, she said, she was in "agonizing" pain. Several weeks later, an MRI revealed that a bone used to repair her spine had dislodged and shifted, requiring another surgery, her records show.Ī month after her first surgery, Massino again was in the operating room with Konasiewicz. "His response was, 'Don't worry, I can fix this,' " said Massino, now 56.īut eight days after the surgery, the former nurse said, the pain in her leg had become worse, and now there was intense pain in her back. She was referred to Konasiewicz who, after reviewing an MRI, diagnosed Massino as having a herniated disc. Then it reversed, and she couldn't sit down without feeling the pain. ![]() She can't remember an injury that caused the pain, which became so severe that she couldn't stand up without feeling it shoot down her leg. Wendy Massino of Grand Marais says she doesn't know why her right leg started hurting about 2001. She can also barely turn her head and has difficulty driving. But she said she still experiences pain that she's been told will never go away. The doctor who gave her the injection, Hal Heyer, also performed an MRI and gave Anthony grim news: One of her discs was ruptured and her vertebrae had not fused.Īnthony went to a doctor at Abbott Northwestern of Minneapolis, where her problem was repaired. She went back to Konasiewicz, who sent her to get another epidural. The pain was eased, but by 2006 it was so severe that she was having uncontrollable tremors. He recommended an epidural, an injection of anesthesia into the spine, to relieve the pain. "I get so angry when I think about everything that's happened to me." "He said he didn't want to do surgery because he would probably just make it worse," he said. ![]() Two years ago Cristilly went to a specialist at the Mayo Clinic to see if anything could be done to repair the damage, but he said he was told by the doctor there that wasn't an option. It was an injury, Freeman wrote, that has also caused Cristilly's intense pain and weakness in his left side, and it "cannot be repaired." He went to another neurosurgeon, Richard Freeman who, according to Cristilly's medical records, said his back pain was from nerve root damage that occurred during surgery by Konasiewicz. The pain and numbness in his back spread to his left side and down to his foot, causing atrophy. Stefan Konasiewicz.Īfter the surgery, Cristilly said, his pain increased and became unbearable. In April 2001, Cristilly said he was exercising at the gym when he ruptured a disc in his lower back that pressed on his back. He said he expects to be on narcotic painkillers the rest of his life just to tolerate the pain. He no longer has feeling in his left foot, has difficulty walking and often falls. Ten years later, he is unable to work, a victim of chronic pain in his back and hips that he said feels like someone has taken a searing-hot poker to his body.Įverything from walking to using the bathroom to being intimate with his wife, he said, "is extremely painful." He and his wife were expecting their fifth child and had bought land in Poplar to build a new home. ![]() He was climbing the ladder at Minnesota Power, rising to electrical operations coordinator and earning more than $60,000 a year. Here, we profile four of those patients.Īt age 37, Brad Cristilly said, his life was only getting better. Those patients all were treated by Konasiewicz while he practiced at St. The total number of patients or family members of deceased patients the News Tribune has interviewed has now reached 29. ![]() Luke's neurosurgeon Stefan Konasiewicz settled five malpractice cases for $3.2 million - including two that accused him of contributing to his patients' deaths - the News Tribune has been contacted by 13 more patients of Konasiewicz wanting to tell their stories. ![]()
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