Articles Posted in Gynecology Errors

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Hamidan Mahamad underwent an annual gynecological checkup performed by an obstetrician, Dr. Herbert Mosberg, an employee of Hollis Women’s Center. Mahamad was in her middle 60s at the time of this exam. A routine transvaginal ultrasound showed the presence of free fluid in Mahamad’s pelvis, which was not there on previous ultrasounds.

Dr. Mosberg said that the latest test was normal. However, nine months later, Mahamad was diagnosed as having ovarian cancer that had metastasized to her uterus, liver and other organs.

In spite of several rounds of chemotherapy and surgery, Mahamad passed away from her illness about two years later. She is survived by her two adult children.
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Leslie Pederson, 40, underwent a laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy that was done by a gynecologist affiliated with Buffalo Clinic, P.A. During this procedure, the doctor reinserted the trocar without using a camera for direct visualization.

As a result, Pederson suffered a 5-mm laceration to her right common iliac artery that required an emergency laparotomy.
As manager for a transportation company, she missed several months from her job and was later fired. She had lost income of $47,000. Pederson went back to school to train for a different job and profession.

Pederson and her husband filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Clinic claiming that it was liable for the doctor’s negligence for reinserting the trocar without a camera. A trocar is a surgical device usually made out of metal or plastic and sharpened at its end. Trocars are mostly used in laparoscopic surgery. The instrument has a sharp-pointed end with a cannula used to insert the cannula into the body cavity as a drainage device. It’s used to withdraw fluid from the surgical area.
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Lynne Niemynski, 63, suffered from stress incontinence. She saw Dr. Arthur Thorpe Jr. a gynecologist, who recommended a transobturator urethral sling to improve her condition. She underwent this procedure.

However, for the next nine months, she complained of worsening symptoms, including bladder spasms, discharge and bleeding. Even with application of creams and other medications, her symptoms continued on.

Niemynski finally met with another gynecologist who examined her bladder and discovered a section of surgical mesh that had golf-ball sized crystalline stone growing from it.
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Nerisa Williams was 43 years old when she underwent a hysterectomy that was completed by her gynecologist, Dr. Kenneth Baker. During the surgery, Dr. Baker unknowingly transected or cut Williams’s ureter. The ureter is made up of two tubes of smooth muscle fibers that propel urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder in an adult. The ureters are paired and described as muscular ducts with narrow openings that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder.

Because of the transection of the ureter, Williams developed permanent urinary incontinence.

She sued Dr. Baker, alleging that his negligent conduct in the surgery led to the need for a second surgery, which caused even more medical complications.
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