LAKEVILLE, Minn. — A Lakeville pain patient says multiple Twin Cities pain clinics pressured her to get a spinal cord stimulator implanted despite a neurosurgeon’s warning that the device could cause paralysis.
Cammie Lavalle, who has lived with severe chronic pain for years, was evaluated for a spinal cord stimulator at the University of Minnesota in 2015. The implanted devices use electrical currents to block pain signals and are marketed as a safe alternative to opioid medications.
But an MRI revealed Lavalle had cervical stenosis — a narrowing of the spinal canal — making implantation “difficult and risky,” according to the neurosurgeon’s notes…