New York Jury Awards Woman $60 Million for a Botched Plastic Surgery
Bronx resident Alison Hugh was left permanently disabled after a botched thigh lift surgery by NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Ferdinand Ofodile. The procedure went wrong with no chance of a corrective surgery either. Hugh sued the surgeon, and a New York jury awarded her $60 million for her pain and suffering, both past and future.
$45.6 Million to Bronx Parents for Surgery Causing Son’s Death
Michael Beloyianis and Virginia Beaton lost their 22-year old son, Edward Beloyianis, in 2010, years after he had a spinal surgery to fix an abnormality. The botched surgery left him impaired, eventually causing his death. Edward’s parents sued the New York Presbyterian Children’s Hospital and one of its surgeons over preventable problems that may have saved their son from paralysis and subsequent death eight years later. The jury ordered the defendants to pay $45.6 million to the victim’s parents for the suffering and pain caused by medical negligence.
Woman Awarded $56 Million After Spinal Surgery Left Her Quadriplegic
The New York City Supreme Court awarded Pomona resident Patricia Jones and her husband $55.9 million in damages after spinal surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern allegedly left Jones a quadriplegic. The medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that surgeons George Alexander Jones and Daniel Spitzer committed medical malpractice that resulted in Jones’ botched spinal surgery. The plaintiffs held the surgeons responsible for a series of medical failures that caused Jones a lifetime of despair and handicap.
Dental Patient Awarded $9.8 Million for a Botched Tooth Extraction
In 2012, the New York Supreme Court ordered an NYC dentist to pay his former patient Harold Hagins $9.8 million for a wisdom tooth extraction gone wrong. While dentist William Moody’s temper had brought him Internet fame, the verdict brought him another round of fame to claim – again for the wrong reasons.
Snooki’s Plastic Surgeon to Face Lawsuit for Botched Nose-Job
Famed for giving lip injections to Snooki from the Real Housewives of Jersey Shore, plastic surgeon Dr. Ramtin Kassir Rice faces a lawsuit for a botched nose job. Arevik Khurdayan, 34, went to the doctor to fix her deviated septum. The surgeon and his staff convinced her to undergo a nose job that left her with even more problems.
A Brooklyn Mom Won $62M Compensation Surgery Left Her Without Legs
Stacey Galette, 30, was awarded $62 million in compensation after a seemingly routine surgery caused her to lose both her legs and most of her hearing. The single mother of one from Brooklyn said that even though she had to wait a while, she was just happy that justice was served to compensate her for her amputations and the consequent suffering.
NASCAR Champion Pete Hamilton Suffered Surgical Error
In December of 2014, the famous NASCAR Champion Pete Hamilton sustained a three-part fracture to his left humerus just below his shoulder joint. Hamilton sustained the injury while on a holiday visit to Georgia, where he slipped and fell.
Hamilton rushed to the Gwinnett Medical Center, where the on-call emergency room trauma surgeon booked him in for an internal shoulder procedure. Unfortunately, Hamilton was in extreme pain when he woke up after the surgery, but the Georgian trauma surgeon assured him that everything was fine.
Surgical Error Causes Boy to Have Surgery on Both Eyes
In 2011, a four-year-old boy named Jesse Matlock received corrective eye surgery on the incorrect eye. Afterward, his parents were forced to take him to another specialist when it was discovered that Jesse’s surgeon, upon realizing her mistake, quickly operated on the correct eye as well.
Tasha Gaul, Jesse’s mother, revealed that it was uncertain whether there would be permanent damage to Jesse’s previously healthy eye.
The reason for the surgery was due to Jesse’s wandering right eye. The procedure of the surgery was to weaken the muscle at the bottom of Jesse’s right eye since the uneven strength of that muscle was causing his eye to wander. However, it was only after the procedure was completed on the left eye that the surgeon realized she had operated on the wrong eye. She sent a nurse out to inform Jesse’s parents that she was going to operate on both eyes, and the nurse quickly returned to the operating room before they could make any inquiries.
What are the Most Common Surgical Errors?
There are 6 major surgical errors that have been found to be the most common both nationally and internationally. These errors are most often featured in medical malpractice cases and include the following:
1. Wrong-Procedure Surgical Error
A wrong-procedure surgical error is an error that occurs when your surgeon performs the incorrect surgical procedure on you. An example could be if you were scheduled for a foot amputation, but your surgeon amputates your entire calf instead.
2. Wrong-Site Surgical Error
A wrong-site surgical error is an error that occurs when your surgeon performs your scheduled surgical procedure, but on the wrong part of your body.
Surgical Error Leads to Healthy Baby Mistakenly Receiving a Frenectomy
In December 2015, Jennifer Melton gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tennessee. Nate was only a day old when he was taken for a surgical procedure that he was never meant to have.
Nate was in the hospital’s nursery when he was taken by a nurse for a frenectomy whereby the tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth was cut. This is a surgery that another child was meant to undergo to remediate his “tongue-tie.”
A frenectomy is a simple surgical procedure of the mouth that removes one or both of the frena (connective tissue membrane that attaches one surface of the mouth to another). A lingual frenum is a connective tissue that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth. This is the frenum that is removed when a child has a “tongue tie” that affects their ability to speak and/or feed properly.
