New York man discovers malpractice when appendix wasn’t removed

It is not that uncommon to suffer appendicitis, or the inflammation of the appendix. People in New York are diagnosed with the condition quite frequently, generally after they go to the hospital with intense pain and swelling in the abdomen. The only treatment is to have the appendix removed or risk it bursting, leaking pus and infection into the abdominal cavity. If the appendix is left in, a patient could die from peritonitis.

So, when a Bronxville, New York, man had to get an emergency appendctomy while on vacation, he may have been a bit surprised, as he was supposed to have had his appendix removed in January 2013 in New York. It seems, however, that the surgeon failed to remove the appendix, just a yellowish mass, and now the man is suing both the hospital and the surgeon for medical negligence.

You see, this was not just the surgeon’s fault (although he is certainly not off the hook). The man’s appendix, or whatever the surgeon removed, was sent to pathology following its extraction. The hospital knew that the man’s appendix was still in him, but it never told him, nor did it tell him that a yellowish mass had been removed from his body.

Fortunately, this man’s appendix never burst and he was able to get it removed later, but the risk that he was put in by a surgeon that apparently cannot recognize an appendix and a hospital that elected not to report a serious medical mistake was severe. As it is, this man likely deserves whatever compensation he can get from this surgeon and hospital.

Source: AOL Jobs, “Man Sues Hospital, Doc: Appendix Left In After Appendectomy,” Erik Sherman, April 11, 2014