A man who has no health insurance needed hernia surgery. He went to a doctor who reportedly scheduled the surgery on an outpatient basis. The hernia patient paid cash and sought to have the hernia repair, in what the doctor expected to be about a one-hour procedure.
The surgery was performed in the doctor's office, not any type of operating room, according to a recent medical malpractice lawsuit. And the one-hour procedure reportedly took an excruciating eight hours to perform. The patient says that there was no anesthesiologist. The doctor used a numbing agent commonly used by veterinarians, according to the recent lawsuit. The patient says that the doctor ultimately gave up and sent the patient home.
The man says in his medical malpractice lawsuit that his pain intensified after he got home. Someone called 911 during the night, and the man was removed from his apartment through his bedroom window to be rushed to the hospital. The hospital noted that the man was uninsured, according to the lawsuit, and the man was sent home with directions to take basic medications for pain and inflammation.
Later, he went to the emergency room at a different hospital where doctors found his abdomen filled with fecal matter. He underwent emergency surgery and the surgeons found that the man's colon had been severed. The patient claims that his severed colon was the result of a surgical error during the botched hernia surgery. Doctors had to remove part of the man's colon and one of his testicles to repair the damage, according to the suit.
He is now suing the doctor who reportedly attempted to perform the hernia surgery at his clinic, and the first hospital that allegedly did not evaluate his condition due to his insurance status for malpractice. The hospital says it is aware of the allegations, but denies any responsibility. The doctor has not responded to the allegations.
Source: Dallas Observer, "Man Sues Dallas Doc, McKinney Hospital After Losing Testicle, Length of Colon Due to Allegedly Botched Hernia Surgery," Brantley Hargrove, July 3, 2012
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