Surgeon’s Errors Result In The Wrong Rib Being Removed

A 60-year-old woman from Milford, Connecticut, is suing Yale-New Haven Hospital, two physicians, and Yale University after a surgeon-in-training extracted the wrong rib for her body. The lawsuit further alleges that the woman had to undergo a second surgery on the same day in order to correct the error, and that the surgeon-in-training lied about the reason for the additional surgery.

The surgery was performed at Yale-New Haven Hospital for the purpose of taking out a possibly cancerous lesion, which doctors found on the woman’s eighth rib. The surgery was performed on May 18.

What Errors Were Committed During the Surgery?

The surgery was intended to be performed by a Yale attending physician and members of the Yale-New Haven Hospital staff. However, a surgical resident was placed on the surgical team without the woman’s knowledge. The lawsuit claims that, in spite of the surgical team putting metallic coils on the rib and injecting a special dye into the woman’s skin around the rib, the surgeon-in-training removed the wrong rib.

The woman woke up in pain, which continued well into the night, so an x-ray was ordered. The x-ray revealed that the metal markers were still present on the woman’s rib, and that the seventh rib had been removed rather than the eighth. However, the surgical resident allegedly lied about the error by saying that not enough rib had been removed.

Addressing Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical negligence errors happen nearly every day in the United States and Connecticut. Fortunately, most of these medical errors do not result in serious injuries, but when a medical error results in the wrong body part being removed, this is a serious matter that may need to be addressed in court by filing medical negligence claim.

Source: NBC Connecticut, “Woman Sues Yale-New Haven Hospital After Doctors Remove Wrong Rib: Lawsuit,” March 17, 2016