IDAHO FALLS — A Bonneville County jury on Friday awarded a $7.9 million judgment to an Idaho Falls man after it found that an urgent care facility owned by Mountain View Hospital was negligent in his medical care.

Shane Ackerschott sued the hospital for negligence in its treatment of injuries from an accident.

In November 2014, Ackerschott went to the Mountain View RediCare office at 2730 Channing Way for treatment of a back injury that occurred while he was moving freight at his job.

He claimed the office’s staffers failed to properly recognize his symptoms and had him move around for a series of tests, with the movements causing him to be paralyzed from the waist down.

Mountain View RediCare, owned by Mountain View Hospital, was the defendant in the case.

The jury deliberated for nearly nine hours before reaching a decision.

Ackerschott initially experienced compression on his spinal cord because of a T10 and T11 spinal cord disruption that rendered him paraplegic.

Twin Falls-based attorney Jarom Whitehead of Pedersen and Whitehead represented Ackerschott in the case and said the movement during tests was the ultimate cause of his paralysis.

“The key here was that it happened over several hours,” Whitehead said. “It was one of those things where they had multiple opportunities to stop him from moving around and get him to the hospital. They just failed to implement the proper procedure to restrict movement and keep from doing further damage to that spinal cord.”

Whitehead said the consistent movement resulted in the worsening of Ackerschott’s injury.

“What he was eventually suffering from was essentially a herniated disc in his spine, and he eventually couldn’t stand,” Whitehead said. “They tried to take an X-ray, and he couldn’t stand for the X-ray. Eventually he couldn’t walk, and they kept having him move around.

“There was hospital protocol that required immobilization or restricted movement in the face of neurological symptoms,” he said. “They didn’t implement that protocol in time and he wound up paralyzed.”

Ackerschott’s attorneys argued that Mountain View’s negligent handling of Ackerschott as he underwent tests for his back injury was the cause of his paralysis.

“The proof was that there were three or four instances where the clinician should have recognized these terrible symptoms as being serious, and they didn’t,” Whitehead said.

In a statement to the Post Register, a Mountain View Hospital official wished the best for Ackerschott, but said he should have initially visited the emergency room instead of RediCare.

“What happened to Shane is tragic,” said Courtney Marshall, RediCare manager. “He didn’t go to the hospital when he was experiencing an emergency because he was worried about how much it would cost. We are actively working with the community and our patients to help educate them on when they need to seek a higher level of care. The doctors at RediCare are committed to taking care of the community when they are experiencing colds, infections, minor cuts, and sprains. Patients experiencing an emergency need to go to an emergency room. We look forward to resolving this case for Shane and his family.”

Mountain View Hospital representatives did not comment on whether they would appeal the judgment.

Ackerschott said paralysis has forever changed his life, but he is relieved the jury awarded the judgment.

“It’s just hurt immensely,” he said.“If they would’ve have homed in on my symptoms I would still be walking. But I don’t hate anyone on this experience. I know they did their best.”

Ackerschott hopes the settlement will help him to provide for his family in the future.

“It will help me live life, and it will help me support my kids like I’m supposed to,” he said.