Florida Judge Suffered from Two Medical Mistakes During Routine Operation

When a person undergoes surgery for an ailment, he expects to get better. There may be some discomfort with recovery, but ultimately he expects to get back to his normal life without the inconvenient and painful symptoms he had before. The Sun Sentinel reported such was certainly the case for Nelson Bailey, a Florida Palm Beach County judge, when he underwent surgery to address his diverticulitis, a painful digestive disorder.

Judge Bailey agreed to the procedure not knowing he would suffer from two serious medical mistakes. The hospital gave the wrong medicine during his recovery, causing his heart to race and warnings to go off at the nurses' station. He recovered and went home, but the pain did not go away. Instead, it got worse. He lost weight and those around him thought he was dying. It was not until five months after his hospitalization Bailey learned the surgeon left a washcloth sized sponge in his abdomen.

The wrong medication given by hospital was dangerous enough, but had no lasting consequences. The medical equipment left in his body caused serious pain and required Judge Bailey undergo another operation to remove it along with more of his intestine that was damaged by the sponge.

In response to their mistake, the hospital has since invested in technology that uses identification tags for equipment and a wand that can be waved over the patient after surgery to ensure nothing is left inside. But the damage is done for Judge Bailey. He can no longer do what he and his wife had planned when he retires.

As a Tampa medical malpractice attorney, I know that all too often medical mistakes like these can lead to permanent damage or death. Doctors and hospitals must be held accountable when errors are made as their patients may suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.