On November 2, 2023, a Washington medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against a hospital and two surgeons who allegedly mistakenly removed a portion of a patient’s bowel instead of his diseased appendix during surgery on December 6, 2022. The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against the Washington Medical Center and two of its surgeons.
According to the medical malpractice lawsuit, George Piano went to the emergency room of Washington Medical Center on December 6, 2022 with complaints of abdominal pain. He was diagnosed with appendicitis and sent for surgery to remove his appendix. The surgeons allegedly had difficulty identifying Mr. Piano’s appendix and removed a portion of his bowel instead. Mr. Piano’s Washington medical malpractice lawyers stated after the complaint was filed in court, “Following surgery, Mr. Piano began to experience abdominal pain which was worse than before his surgery. The bowel contents began to spill into his abdominal cavity causing him to become much sicker.”
According to the complaint, Mr. Piano was told two days after surgery that a CT scan found that his appendix remained in his body despite the surgery intended to remove his appendix. Mr. Piano required further surgery on December 8, 2022 during which the same surgeons removed his appendix and addressed his injuries.
In an interview with a news organization, Mr. Piano stated that he lost 40;pounds as a result of the medical error and had to stay in the hospital for 53 days. He alleges that he suffers anxiety and short-term memory loss as a result. Mr. Piano stated: “It’s been a hell of a year. I’m not the same person I was when this started. When I woke up and came out of the drugs, I was in serious pain. Much worse than I had been in when I went to the hospital.”
Mr. Piano stated that he filed his Washington medical malpractice lawsuit due to his frustration with the hospital’s response to what had happened to him: “I feel very lucky that I’m still alive. We didn’t want it to happen to someone else. Someone needed to put a stop to this and take responsibility and say this happened − we need to take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Washington Hospital Center issued the following statement in response to the news organization’s request for comment about the lawsuit: “UW Medicine strives to provide the best possible care to all of our patients; their safety and well-being is deeply important to us.”
If you or a loved one may have been injured as a result of surgical malpractice in Washington or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Washington medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your surgical medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a surgical medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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