Former New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a pair of since-fired team doctors who in 2017 diagnosed him with a bruised leg that was actually broken.
Breaux’s suit, filed Thursday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, accuses Dr. Deryk Jones, Dr. Misty Suri and their employer, Ochsner Health System, of misdiagnosing him and therefore failing to meet “the acceptable standard of care” in his case.
New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux will undergo surgery for a broken fibula that will sideline him for approximately six weeks, coach…
Neither Jones nor Suri immediately responded to requests for comment about the assertions from Breaux, whose career with the Saints ended shortly after the injured leg episode.
Ochsner called Breaux's lawsuit "unfounded." Its statement said three doctors, as required by law, reviewed Breaux's allegations before he filed his suit. That panel concluded that "all defendants met the standard of care."
"We stand behind [Jones and Suri] … for the care and treatment provided in this claim," Ochsner's statement said.
The New Orleans Saints have fired team orthopedists Deryk Jones and Misty Suri after a misdiagnosis of an injury to cornerback Delvin Breaux, …
One of Breaux’s attorneys, Vincent Odom, said the medical review panel's ruling isn't final. “That does not prevent a patient from filing a successful lawsuit in court,” Odom said. “Our office stands by the allegations asserted in Mr. Breaux’s lawsuit.”
The Saints fired Jones and Suri as team doctors after the discovery that Breaux’s suspected lower leg contusion was in fact a broken fibula that required surgery.
Breaux sustained the injury during the Saints’ training camp in Metairie in late July 2017. Suri and Jones ordered an X-ray and MRI of Breaux’s leg and determined he had a bone contusion.
COSTA MESA, Calif. – While the rest of his team was in California taking on the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, cornerback Delvin Breaux was…
The cornerback continued “his strenuous training program” and became worried when his left leg still hurt a week later. He saw Jones and Suri again, but they stood firm in their initial diagnosis after ordering another X-ray and MRI, and the player returned to his training routine, Breaux’s five-page lawsuit alleges.
When Breaux’s pain hadn’t cleared by mid-August, he sought a second opinion at Tulane University Medical Center, his suit says. Tulane’s staff informed him he had a fractured fibula, the outer leg bone that helps the ankle function.
A specialist in Green Bay, Wisconsin, performed surgery on Breaux’s leg, and the Saints placed him on injured reserve. The cornerback missed the entire season, which was supposed to mark his comeback from another fractured fibula as well as a shoulder injury.
At the time, Ochsner officials said Breaux's ordeal was not uncommon, arguing that stress-related fractures like the one the player had suffered are sometimes “unnoticeable in initial imaging.”
Breaux began the medical review panel process in 2018. Despite the unfavorable ruling, he retained the right to sue.
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux underwent successful surgery on Thursday for a fractured fibula, the second …
Medical malpractice suits may only be brought against medical providers, not the plaintiff's employers, so the Saints are not defendants in Breaux’s case. Breaux’s suit targets Jones, Suri and Ochsner because the doctors performed their duties for the Saints through a contract the team had with the health system.
Louisiana caps medical malpractice damages at $500,000, although there is no limit to compensation for future medical expenses.
Breaux had been on the Saints’ active roster for the two prior seasons, starting in every game in which he played in 2015 and 2016. Breaux led the Saints in interceptions in 2015, picking off three different quarterbacks that year.
Breaux suited up in only six games in 2016, breaking his fibula in the season opener against the Oakland Raiders. Two months later against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he sustained a shoulder injury that landed him on the injured reserve list.
He had completely recovered from those two injuries ahead of training camp in 2017, he said in March of that year, writing on Twitter that he’d be “200 percent” healthy.
But Breaux never played another game in the NFL after his 2017 fracture. He became a restricted free agent after the 2017 season, but the Saints didn’t sign him to a new contract. Breaux had visits with the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots, but neither team signed him.
He went back to the Canadian Football League, where his career had begun, signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for a reported $200,000 before incentives ahead of the 2018 season. That deal made Breaux the highest-paid defensive back in the league. But, as Breaux’s lawsuit notes, it's considerably less than what he was making with the Saints.
Former New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a pair of since-fired team doctors who in 2…
His 3-year deal in New Orleans was worth $1.6 million, according to Spotrac. His base salary for the 2017 season was $615,000.
Breaux is still listed on the Tiger-Cats’ roster, although the New Orleans native won’t be suiting up this season because the CFL suspended its games due to coronavirus.
In response to a report Friday on his medical malpractice lawsuit, Breaux wrote on Twitter: "God be with, you know what happened."
The NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, who are also owned by Saints owner Gayle Benson, maintained Suri as their team doctor despite his dismissal from the NFL team.
