Peripheral nerve blocks can be highly effective, highly efficient options for surgical anesthesia and post-operative analgesia, but they utterly depend upon precise placement. An Ohio jury has awarded a patient $554,022 after a block injection gone wrong cost her the use of a leg.

Lydia Long, 33, underwent a closed knee manipulation procedure at Evendale Surgical Center in Cincinnati in August 2009 as treatment for scar tissue that developed after a total knee arthroplasty.

According to court records, the anesthesiologist attending the case, Donald Raithel, MD, administered a femoral nerve block before the manipulation.

The procedure impaired Ms. Long's femoral nerve and, as a result, her quadriceps muscle. After a year of physical therapy, she still walked with a limp. In a lawsuit, she alleged that Dr. Raithel negligently injected the anesthetic directly into the nerve instead of around it. At the July 2012 trial, Dr. Raithel countered that the manipulation had stretched the nerve, causing the damage.

Dr. Raithel and his attorney didn't return calls seeking comment.

David Bernard