Articles Posted in Surgical Errors

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Steven Rosen experienced severe disability after surgery for a herniated disk in the lower part of his neck. Several years later, he consulted a neurosurgeon, Dr. Harshpal Singh, who subsequently operated on Rosen’s cervical spine.

During the procedure, Dr. Singh allegedly noted that Rosen’s left C8 nerve root was not visible and had been transected or cut transversely.

Despite the second surgery, Rosen’s condition worsened. He is now 74 years old and needs ongoing pain management. Rosen and his wife filed suit against Dr. Singh and the New Jersey Brain & Spine Center, alleging medical negligence. The Rosen family asserted that the surgery was performed improperly, and that the physician caused serious injury to Rosen’s C8 nerve root.
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Ms. Doe underwent a tummy tuck performed by Dr. Roe, a plastic surgeon. During the procedure, Dr. Roe allegedly found a lipoma that he attempted to remove by way of liposuction. The attempt was unsuccessful, but Dr. Roe finished the procedure.

Ms. Doe suffered severe pain over the next week despite her use of narcotics. She later went to a hospital where exploratory surgery revealed two large bowel perforations. Ms. Doe required 11 additional surgeries.

Ms. Doe sued Dr. Roe, alleging that he had negligently perforated her bowel during the tummy tuck and had mistaken her bowel for a lipoma. A lipoma is a slow-growing fatty lump that most often is situated between the skin and underlying muscle layer. Lipomas are slow-growing and usually harmless.
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LaTresia Austin, 39, was a breast cancer survivor. She elected to undergo a one-hour reconstructive breast surgery at a San Diego hospital. When her breathing tube was removed postoperatively, her vocal cord spasmed. Unfortunately, the tube was reinserted into her esophagus, and allegedly it took more than ten minutes for doctors to realize she was experiencing oxygen deprivation.

When the error was discovered, Austin was transferred to the ICU where she died of a hypoxic brain injury. Her death was caused by the breathing tube mishap and the ten-minute delay in reacting to the emergency: oxygen deprivation to the brain. She was survived by her husband and child.

Austin’s estate sued the Regents of the University of California, alleging improper monitoring and choosing not to timely check the breathing tube, which was the cause of her brain injury and finally her wrongful death.
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Idalia Corcoles, 39, underwent liposuction of her back, abdomen and flanks; the surgery was performed by plastic surgeon Dr. Ayoub Sayeg at the 63rd Medical & Surgical Center in Chicago, Ill.

A few hours after the procedures, she was rushed to a nearby hospital from the 63rd Medical & Surgical Center recovery room where a blue code was activated. Extensive blood in her abdomen was revealed after a test, which necessitated massive blood transfusions and surgery. Corcoles died the next day. She was survived by her husband and four children, ages 10 to 22.

Corcoles’ estate sued the surgical center, Dr. Sayeg and others, claiming failure to perform an adequate medical history, recognize and treat hypertension and bleeding, and timely transfer Corcoles to a hospital.
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The trial judge in a medical malpractice jury trial correctly adopted the jury instructions in the case over an alleged botched hernia surgery. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed that ruling. The jury returned a verdict in the defendant’s favor.

The appellate court ruled that the trial judge did not err when giving jury instructions and that the instruction tendered was accurate and without undue repetition. Justice David W. Ellis delivered the opinion of the appellate court.

Jeffrey S. Goldberg sued Dr. N. Scott Peckler and North Suburban Surgical Consultants in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The lawsuit alleged negligence against Dr. Peckler and vicarious liability against North Suburban Surgical Consultants.
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Amanda Hoover delivered her child by cesarean section at Banner-University Medical Center. After the delivery, Hoover experienced chronic abdominal pain, intermittent fever and chills, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. She underwent testing and was later diagnosed as having a foreign body in the lumen of her sigmoid colon.

Hoover underwent surgery during which a surgical sponge and a 20-cm section of her sigmoid colon were surgically removed.

She sued Banner-University Medical Center and Banner University Medical Group alleging that leaving a surgical sponge in her body after the cesarean section delivery amounted to a deviation from the standard of care.
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Dr. Fangxiang Chen was an agent of Mercy Clinic East Communities.

Dr. Chen allegedly recommended that the plaintiff, Natalie Avilez, 39, undergo a minimally invasive right-sided microdiscectomy at T7-8. A microdiscectomy procedure is a type of minimally invasive discectomy commonly used to treat a herniated disc. When a herniated disc compresses a spinal nerve, symptoms can include pain (which may extend down one or both arms and legs, as is the case in sciatica), muscle weakness and difficulty with repetitive motions.

After the surgery, Avilez learned from Dr. Chen that he had operated on the wrong side of her spine and on the wrong level. The next day, Dr. Chen returned Avilez to surgery during which he performed a T6-7 laminectomy before intraoperative imaging showed he was still at the wrong level. Resulting from these incorrect surgeries, Avilez experienced additional pain and increased anxiety.
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Yahaira Perez, 39, experienced pain in her right upper quadrant. She went to a hospital emergency room where a CT scan revealed thickening of the colon and an incidental finding of an enlarged cervix with a 2.5 cm lesion.

Perez consulted her gynecologist, Dr. Mohammad Nizam, who scheduled her for emergency surgery to remove her cervix.

Post-operatively, the cervical pathology showed that Perez suffered from chronic cervicitis and a cyst instead of cancer. As a result of the unnecessary surgery, Perez suffered nerve damage and pelvic prolapse.
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Doe was admitted to a hospital to undergo a non-emergency medical procedure. During or because of the non-emergency surgery, something evidently did not go as planned.
Doe suffered permanent injuries that now require 24/7 care; he is unable to work.

Doe sued the physician, the downstate Illinois hospital, and a product manufacturer. There is very little information on this case, which resulted in a settlement of $29.5 million.

The attorneys successfully handling this tragic matter were Miranda L. Soucie and James Spiros, both of Champaign, Ill.
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Margaret Parr, 68, underwent a hiatal hernia repair done by Dr. Medhat Allam. She was discharged several hours after the surgery. That night and the next morning, she suffered severe pain and was brought to another hospital where she underwent a second surgery, which revealed necrosis of her gallbladder, intestines, pancreas and stomach.

Unfortunately, Parr later died of ischemia resulting from thrombosis that had compromised one or more of the stents that been implanted in her celiac and mesenteric artery the year before.

Parr was a retiree and survived by her wife and adult daughter.
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