Patient's Tendon "Sheared Off" After Levaquin Use

Campbell, OHChuck K. thought that his problems with his leg were over after he had major surgery on his left leg and finished rehabilitation. However, Chuck was given Levaquin to deal with a series of infections related to his surgery and, soon after, found himself undergoing a second major surgery and rehabilitation all over again.

"It started back in 2000, when I had major surgery [an osteotomy] to do a correction on my left leg," Chuck says. "They put wires through my knee and external bolts from my tibia that attached to 2 external halos. These had to stay on for 5 or 6 months. I had to sleep and do everything with those in. At the site of these wires and bolts [known as pin sites] I was getting periodic infections. I had to clean the sites twice a day and I was told I might have infections. Because of this, I was put on Levaquin at least once and possibly more than that. I'm still waiting for one pharmacy to come back with that information.

Shortly thereafter, I had the external devices [the halos] removed and went into rehabilitation."

One day, Chuck was in his driveway playing basketball. He says that he jumped up for a jump shot and when he came down, he wound up lying on the ground.

"The tendon on my right leg had completely sheared off. It was in pieces. My leg was dangling and my kneecap was up in my thigh area. I was in excruciating pain. I had to have major surgery to reattach my patella and I had to have rehabilitation again. It was very painful. Up to then, I was afraid to even run because of my left leg, so I just did a little jump shot.

"I never knew anything about what these drugs [Cipro and Levaquin] may cause until last night, when I saw a commercial about the dangers of them and the black box warning [recently ordered by the FDA]. I did research on the Internet and got some information about the drug. I'm kind of stunned and puzzled by the whole thing.

"It took 9 months to recover. I'm self-employed [selling and installing window coverings]. I had to go out and work on crutches. I had to do estimates in and out of homes on crutches. I had periodic help from my son, but I had to do most of it on my own.

"People need to be very thorough about what drugs they are taking and the potential harm and danger in them."