A man is suing a hospital after he claims surgeons who were meant to be removing his appendix actually removed part of his colon and left him in agonising pain.
George Piano, 72, was sent to the University of Washington Medical Centre for surgery, after being diagnosed with appendicitis.
After the operation in December 2022, the pain in his abdomen persisted, and after many scans, it was apparently revealed to him that the surgeon had removed part of his large intestine instead of his appendix.
After being left untreated for so long, his bowel had also started to leak into his abdomen, causing ‘much worse’ pain and he found that an infection had developed alongside his other medical troubles.
The father-of-two was left with no other option, other than to undergo four surgeries and have a ileostomy bag.
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He lived with constant pain for months, and was left with a wound the size of a pool ball in his abdomen where the operations had taken place.
He is suing the hospital for their treatment, not only for the botched surgery, but also because the oversight forced him to delay his cancer treatment.
He is seeking damages from the hospital and his surgeons Nidhi Udyavar and Paul Herman.
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Mr Piano has not disclosed how much in damages he is suing them for, but the lawyer fighting his corner, Ed Moore, has said that similar cases have been in the region of $500,000 to $3 million.
Talking about his experience, Mr Piano told KIRO 7: “It's been a year of hell.
“I'm not the same person I was when this started.
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“But I feel very lucky I am 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.”
Following the incident, Mr Piano has said he suffers from increased levels of anxiety and short term memory loss, as well as losing 40lbs in weight.
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In the court documents, he outlines that the multiple medical problems he now suffers from ‘did not exist’ until the botched operation took place.
They also state that he required weekly home health physical therapy visits to recover from the surgery, and nurses coming to his home to check his vital symptoms.
It is incredibly rare for an appendicitis operation to go wrong. About 250,000 Americans are diagnosed with the condition every year, which is normally treated by surgery.
A University of Washington spokesperson told UNILAD: "UW Medicine strives to provide the best possible care to all of our patients.
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"Their safety and well-being is deeply important to us. We are not able to comment on the specifics of the case."
Mia Williams