Jonathan Buckelew walked into a chiropractor’s office in 2015 expecting a simple neck adjustment. He left with his life forever changed.
Then just 25 years old, the Georgia man began feeling dizzy and disoriented shortly after his appointment.
His symptoms quickly worsened, and he was rushed to North Fulton Hospital in Atlanta. But what happened next turned a medical emergency into a devastating case of malpractice.
Doctors failed to recognize that Jonathan was having a stroke, and they didn’t catch it for 12 hours. By the time they realized what was happening, the damage was done.
Jonathan had developed locked-in syndrome (LiS), a rare and severe neurological condition caused by brainstem damage, typically from a stroke. According to the Cleveland Clinic, people with LiS are fully conscious and mentally aware, but are completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak.
Now 34, Jonathan lives at home under constant care from his parents, Jack and Janice Buckelew, along with a team of nurses. He communicates by blinking or using his nose to type on a special keypad. His parents have since renovated their entire home to accommodate his needs.
“He wants to do things. He wants to go places,” Jack told Atlanta News First. “It just breaks our heart to see him like he is.”
Initially, the hospital and the chiropractor were not held legally responsible. But a Georgia jury did find two specific medical professionals grossly negligent: an emergency room doctor and a radiologist, both of whom failed to recognize the signs of a stroke or follow standard protocols.
The verdict? A staggering $75 million in damages; the largest emergency room malpractice award in Georgia history, the New York Post detailed.
“Jonathan was having a stroke when he came to the hospital, and they missed it,” said attorney Lloyd Bell, who represented the Buckelew family. “The radiologist misread the scans. The ER doctor saw a patient with every sign of a stroke and never called a stroke alert. There were policies and procedures in place to prevent this, and they ignored them.”
The jury agreed, holding both doctors accountable for a series of life-altering failures. One of the doctors appealed the decision, but Georgia’s appellate court upheld the ruling. That same doctor has now filed an appeal with the state’s Supreme Court, which has yet to decide whether it will hear the case.
Meanwhile, Jonathan and his family continue to navigate their new reality, one that could likely have been avoided, had someone simply followed protocol.
“He’s still all there,” his father said. “He’s just trapped.”