A woman had spine surgery which went well. Three days later, she was unable to move her legs, leading her to believe there was a neurological problem. Ineffective communication with the doctor's office was a significant problem leading to a delay in admitting the patient to the hospital. 

Once admitted, the "gold standard" test used to evaluate the patient's fluid collection in her spine was not done. Instead, other tests were done, without definitive results. This caused further delay in obtaining the necessary imaging tests to find out why the patient was having neurological symptoms.

Surgery to remove the fluid build-up was successful and after weeks of rehabilitation, the patient return to most of her routine and regular daily function.

The bottom line was that had the patient been immediately admitted and had surgery to remove the fluid build-up in the spine, the injuries and rehabilitation would have been much less than they turned out to be.