Pennsylvania

Heather Lewinsky

Seventeen-year-old Heather Lewinsky's face was scarred for life after a Pittsburgh plastic surgeon performed radical surgery to correct a skin disorder near the left corner of her mouth when she was 8. The doctor claimed to have done the tissue expansion procedure on children many times before when in fact neither he nor any doctor in the United States had ever done the surgery to treat a condition such as Heather's. Following the operation, Heather was left with horrific facial scarring and a grotesque, stroke-like "tugging" at the corner of her mouth. The doctor attempted to fix the problem with two additional surgeries, which made the situation worse, forcing Heather to undergo ten more operations with other doctors between the third and tenth grades. The pain, swelling and recuperation with each procedure were excruciating.

Ellen Thurston

Ellen Thurston had a solitary nodule show up on an x-ray, located on the left lobe of her left lung. Doctors decided to remove the nodule. During surgery, the surgeon mistakenly cut a hole in Ellen's diaphragm. The surgeon sutured the hole, continued on with the surgery and never reported his mistake. He didn't even he make note of the tear and repair in the operative report, nor did he inform Ellen. After surgery, Ellen's health deteriorated and the doctors could not figure out why. Ellen also had an air leak in her chest tube, requiring the chest tube be removed.

One day later, Ellen had brown fluid leaking from the insertion site. They put another tube in. Ellen continued to suffer from pain, fever, and vomiting. She underwent another surgery with new surgeons. They discovered the hole made in Ellen's diaphragm and found that the sutures used to repair it had deteriorated and become infected. As a result, Ellen's stomach had herniated into the diaphragm hole. Her stomach had twisted and been cut off from its blood supply. Stomach contents then leaked into her abdomen causing a massive infection. This was the cause of the brown fluid leaking from the air tube insertion site. Doctors attempted to reconstruct her chest wall but were unsuccessful. They had to remove some of her ribs attempting to repair lung leaks. Ellen still has an open hole in her back, leading to her chest cavity. The wound must have dressing changed daily, and Ellen still faces life threatening infections, recurring pneumonia, and hospitalization. The case was settled.

Earl Pfaff

Earl's doctor noticed a nodule on his prostate glad. A biopsy was done. The doctor received the results which showed that Earl had cancer. It showed that it was at an aggressive stage of prostate cancer. The doctor decided that the only option was to remove the prostate. After the surgery, the mass was tested and the test results showed that it was not cancerous. The removal of the prostate caused erectile dysfunction and incontinence.

November 2004