Articles Posted in Surgical Errors

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Donne Licudine, 20, was diagnosed with cholecystitis, the inflammation of the gallbladder. The gallbladder is the small organ near the liver that plays a part in the digestion of food. When the condition is acute, the patient experiences upper abdominal pain and there is usually an obstruction of the cystic duct.

Because of her medical condition, a general surgeon, Dr. Brendan Carroll, and a resident, Dr. Ankur Gupta, did a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which is the surgical procedure that removes the gallbladder. During that surgery, it was first discovered that Licudine had suffered a vascular injury. The doctors converted to an open procedure, which revealed a torn iliac vein. As a result, Licudine required three surgeries to repair her vascular injuries.

Licudine was a college rower. She was obviously a very active athlete. She now suffers from bowel adhesions, a six-inch scar from her abdomen to her sternum and severe depression as a result of her injuries. Licudine had planned to attend law school but has canceled those plans due to her medical condition.

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Mr. Doe, who was in his 60s, was admitted to a hospital for heart surgery. While he was recovering, healthcare personnel placed multiple lines in his body, including a central venous pressure catheter, which was replaced with a peripherally inserted central catheter line.

After Mr. Doe returned to his home, he began to experience chest pain and persistent arrhythmia. Arrhythmia is sometimes referred to as a malfunction of the heart’s electrical system. It occurs when the heart beats irregularly or improperly, meaning it beats too fast or too slow. The symptoms continued.

Mr. Doe then underwent testing over two years to determine the cause. A chest X-ray later revealed that his symptoms resulted from the presence of a foreign body. He underwent surgery to remove a fragment of a triple lumen catheter. Continue reading

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Edward Belowyianis, 14, suffered from scoliosis. Scoliosis is often referred to as curvature of the spine. The curve of the spine could be sideways and most often occurs during growth spurts in young people just before puberty. Scoliosis is not a disease, but is rather a medical term to describe the abnormal sideways curvature of the spine.

Because of this sideways curvature, pediatric orthopedic Dr. David Roye was the physician who performed surgery on Edward at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital.

As a result of the surgery, Edward suffered paraplegia, which is paralysis of the lower limbs of the body. Edward died of complications eight years later. He is survived by his parents.

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Harvey Mantei, 60, underwent colon resection surgery performed by U.S. Veterans Hospital staff surgeon Dr. Karen Kwong. Within several days of the surgery, Mantei developed peritonitis and later required two more surgeries as well as additional hospitalizations for treatment of renal failure and MRSA.

Mantei continued to suffer abdominal pain and scarring and required a corset to support his weak abdominal area.

Mantei sued the United States because it operates veterans hospitals, alleging liability for Dr. Kwong’s failure to perform air and water testing during the colon resection surgery to ensure that the surgical connection was sufficient.

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Gwendolyn Brown was a 50-year-old woman who had been suffering from back pain. She underwent three epidural steroid injections that were given by a pain specialist, Dr. Dennis Doherty, at the Southeastern Pain Ambulatory Surgery Center. During the third epidural procedure, which was done under conscious sedation, it became difficult for the doctor and assistants to maintain Brown’s airway, and she stopped breathing for periods of times. Dr. Doherty and his nursing assistant continued with the procedure, even though his patient was not breathing from time to time.

Brown was later transferred to a hospital where she was diagnosed as having severe anoxic brain damage, which is the condition that follows a period of time when the brain is not fully or sufficiently oxygenated. Most severely brain damaged patients lose many cognitive and motor functions that include speech, sight, walking and other extremely debilitating deficits. Unfortunately, Brown died six years later. She was survived by her husband and three adult children.

Brown’s husband on behalf of her estate and family sued the surgery center, Dr. Doherty and his employer for medical negligence alleging failure to timely respond to an emergency situation during the epidural procedure — that period of time when Brown was unable to breath. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants should have turned Brown over from the prone position, provided a bag mask and started CPR in light of her critical oxygen status.

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In a strange but interesting medical malpractice case, the jury entered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff without awarding a single dollar for plaintiff’s noneconomic damages. In April 2013, after a three-day jury trial, the jury found in this medical negligence lawsuit that the defendant physician Dr. Sublette was negligent in the cause of the death of his patient, Concetta Cimino, but concluded that there could be no awarded damages. This wrongful death, medical malpractice case was brought by the family of Cimino.

She was 83 years old in January 2009 and, according to testimony from her family, was in “pretty good health” when she phoned her daughter and told her she had been vomiting regularly.

Cimino’s daughter then drove her to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., the following day.

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Patricia McCleod, 49, suffered from pain, numbness and tingling in her left leg. A plastic surgeon, Dr. Patrick Swier, ordered testing and later diagnosed McCleod with lower extremity nerve compression.

Dr. Swier recommended surgery to avoid permanent nerve damage. Dr. Swier performed nine separate nerve procedures on McLeod’s left leg.

After the surgeries, McLeod developed complex regional pain syndrome, which resulted in constant and severe pain. She is no longer able to work as a school teacher; she was earning $60,000 annually.

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Jerry Medlin, 60, underwent cataract surgery in his left eye. The surgery was completed by an ophthalmologist, Dr. Timothy Young. During the surgery, Dr. Young called for VisionBlue, a staining solution used in cataract surgeries. A nurse during surgery tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the solution from the hospital’s automated medication dispensing system. She then typed “blue” into the system, which gave her the option to receive Methylene Blue.

The nurse took the Methylene Blue to the operating room and told the doctor that she had the drug. A technologist also announced the name of the same drug and then drew up a syringe, which Dr. Young injected into Medlin’s eye.

Medlin suffered toxic anterior segment syndrome. Despite a corneal grafting procedure, Medlin is now blind in his left eye. He filed a lawsuit against the hospital, Dr. Young and his practice, claiming negligent administration of a toxic substance. The lawsuit did not claim lost income.

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Walter Hoover was 70 years old when he suffered a compression fracture in his back at L4. After the first rounds of treatment were found to be unsuccessful, he was transferred to a Veterans Administration Hospital where two neurosurgeons performed a corpectomy and diskectomy at L3-5 with placement of spinal instrumentation. This procedure was done to decompress the spine.

After the surgery, Hoover experienced paralysis in his left leg. Days later, he underwent additional surgeries to remove a misplaced surgical screw, reposition his surgically implanted hardware and to decompress his spinal cord.

Even after that series of surgeries, Hoover remained paralyzed and required multiple hospitalizations and treatments until he died several years later.

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On June 1, 2009, the defendant surgeon Dr. Aaron Siegel agreed to assist a urologist during a urological surgery on 60-year-old Ivory Lakes at the Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Ill. She had been a patient of Dr. Berger, the urologist, for about a year, treating for retroperitoneal fibrosis. Retroperitoneal fibrosis is a condition that causes urinary flow problems in both ureters. The surgery involved a procedure to free the ureters and encase the ureters with tissues harvested from the patient; the procedure was designed to prevent recurrence of the urinary flow problem.

Dr. Siegel’s role at the surgery was limited to being an assistant to Dr. Berger. Dr. Siegel never met the patient before she was placed under anesthesia, and Dr. Siegel did not know anything about her medical history or what specific procedure was planned.

During the surgery, Dr. Siegel held retractors, provided visualization for Dr. Berger and suctioned fluids from the operative field. However, one of the ureters tore when Dr. Berger grasped it, and it then it disintegrated when he tried to grasp it above the tear. Dr. Berger than decided to remove the kidney due to the lack of a viable ureter.

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