$9.5M jury award after CT reveals surgical sponge left in woman for 5 years

An appeals court recently upheld a $9.5 million jury award after CT imaging revealed a surgical sponge that providers left in a patient for five years.

The case dates to March 2011, when Carolyn Boerste underwent surgery at the University of Louisville Hospital to address circulation issues in her extremities. Surgeon Marvin Morris, MD, and his team left behind an 18-by-18-inch laparotomy sponge in Boerste's abdomen, which after years of remaining there migrated to her intestine, Medscape reported.

There, it caused nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, leading to an ambulance ride and an ED visit. An emergency doc ordered the computed tomography scan, which picked up the X-ray sponge marker. And a radiologist relayed this information to the ordering physician, the complaint said. However, it never got back to the patient, and she was later discharged with a urinary tract infection diagnosis.

The ED doc claimed to have no memory of speaking with the radiologist, and when the images were sent to her family physician, the doc assumed it had been removed. However, it remained there for 20 more months, Medscape reported, before a November 2016 CT again showed the object. It was removed but the patient said the incident resulted in the loss of her leg, due to a wound developing from her bed-ridden state.

Boerste filed suit in 2017, a 10-day trial resulted in $10.5 million in damages, and the surgeon Morris appealed. During the process, the patient died, with her son taking over the case. The court, however, upheld the decision but vacated $1 million in punitive damages, resulting in the final award. Read more from Medscape below.