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Surgeon Allegedly Leaves Object in Uterus
(submitted by gekkogecko)
AP
DANVILLE, Pa. - A woman is suing a doctor who operated
on her, accusing him of leaving a 4-inch metal
instrument inside her uterus.
In her lawsuit, Lori Klinger, 35, said she experienced
severe pain after Dr. Samuel Owusu performed a
diagnostic laparoscopy on her in November 2002 to
check for endometriosis, a condition where some of the
uterus lining is found outside the uterus.
She said when she called Owusu later complaining of
pain, he said it was normal and told her to take pain
medication.
"(Klinger) had called him and said this really hurts,"
said Klinger's lawyer, Jane Sebelin. "He just kept
saying, 'Deal with it.'"
Two days later, she went to the bathroom and an
instrument emerged from her vagina, the lawsuit said.
Klinger said it was sharp on one end with a rubber
bulb on the other. She said she took it to the
doctor's office.
"We felt there was a lack of procedures in place, that
they should be checking these things," said Sebelin.
The lawsuit said Owusu did apologize.
Klinger is seeking $350,000 for counts including
negligence.
Owusu referred questions to Bloomsburg-based Geisinger
Medical Group when reached Wednesday. Alison Delsite
Everett, spokeswoman for Geisinger, declined to
comment on the case, but said: "we have very stringent
policies to ensure the safety of our patients."
This mistake happens at least once a year at hospitals
that perform 8,000 to 18,000 surgeries a year, despite
the regular use of checklists to account for
instruments used during operations, said Ramona Conner
of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.
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