Medical Malpractice Costs Woman 17 Million Dollars

In the U.S. state of Maine, a medical error resulted in a lawsuit after a woman's healthy bladder was removed during surgery. As a result, the court ruled to pay a total of 17 million dollars in compensation in favor of the victim and her family. This was reported by Complex publication.

It is reported that a nine-member jury at the Kennebec County Superior Court found Northern Light Inland Hospital and its parent organization Northern Light Healthunanimously guilty. According to the court decision, Mrs. Mitchell is to be awarded 15.75 million dollars, and her husband Joshua Mitchell an additional 1.25 million dollars for moral damages. Thus, the total compensation paid to the family reached 17 million dollars. Lawyers emphasize that this decision is the largest compensation payout for a medical malpractice case in Kennebec County.

According to the data, the incident occurred on March 1, 2023. A 43-year-old woman went to the hospital to have a benign tumor on her left ovary removed laparostomically. However, during the surgery, surgeon Dr. Daniel Gagnon cut out the patient's entirely healthy bladder instead of the tumor. Later, a pathological examination confirmed that the removed organ was indeed the bladder.

This horrific mistake only came to light after the woman returned to the hospital complaining of severe pain, abdominal bloating, and inability to urinate post-surgery. Doctors determined that there was not enough healthy tissue left to reconstruct the bladder.

Following this, the patient was forced to live for more than eight months through special nephrostomy tubes attached to her kidneys. During this period, she suffered from urinary tract and kidney infections several times.

In October 2023, during a complex surgery performed in Boston, surgeons successfully formed a new bladder using the patient's intestinal tissue. However, despite this, she still has to catheterize herself several times a day and remain under constant medical supervision.

The compensation amount set by the court is allocated to cover past and future treatment expenses, physical and mental suffering, decreased quality of life, and damages associated with lifelong disability. This case once again showed how severe the consequences of medical errors can be in the USA.