An appeals court upheld a $9.5 million jury award after a surgeon left an 18-inch sponge in a patient's abdomen that remained for more than five years, Medscape reported March 2.
Carolyn Boerste underwent heart bypass surgery at the University of Louisville (Ky.) Hospital in March 2011, the report said. But an 18-by-18-inch surgical sponge was left unaccounted for and remained in Ms. Boerste's abdomen after she was stitched back up.
Over the next five years, it eroded into her intestine, causing nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Ms. Boerste went to an emergency department in March 2015 because of abdominal pain, and a CT scan showed the sponge marker inside her intestine, the report said.
The radiologist who conducted the scan notified Ms. Boerste's emergency physician, but Ms. Boerste was never told.
Ms. Boerste returned to the same emergency department in November 2016 with more intense gastrointestinal issues, after which the sponge was removed. While in recovery from the procedure, however, she developed a wound that led to her leg being amputated below the knee.
She filed a negligence lawsuit in 2017 against the original surgeon, the University of Louisville Hospital, and others involved in her care, the report said. On the first day of the trial in December 2019, the hospital conceded liability but later filed an appeal, along with the surgeon, citing an excessive award amount and a biased jury.