People may joke that it happens and some may suspect that it really does, but for one New York woman, being the victim of unnecessary surgeries may be her reality. Forty two year old Kristy Pirozzolo of Long Island filed suit this week in Nassau County against neurosurgeons Thomas Milhorat and Paolo Bolognese claiming that they performed two unnecessary surgeries on her.
The suit seeks 10 million in damages for Pirozzolo for injuries she sustained as a result of the surgeries. Pirozollo’s medical nightmare started in 2003 when she started having fainting spells. A Manhattan brokerage worker at the time, Pirozzolo sought help and underwent separate surgeries in late 2006 for a brain defect (Chiari malformation) and a spinal cord disorder (spinal cord attached to spine) the suit claims she never had. Rather than improve her condition, the surgeries made her situation much worse; she now suffers from extreme back and head pain and limited range of motion.
This is not the first sign of trouble for Milhorat and Bolognese. Until recently, both practiced at the well-respected Chiari Institute operated by North Shore University Hospital and were paid millions of dollars to perform more than 500 surgeries per year. The luster is gone, however. Both doctors were suspended in April because Dr. Bolognese failed to appear for a surgery that was ready to go except there was no surgeon. Dr. Milhorat declined to step in and perform the surgery in Dr. Bolognese’s absence. On May 8th, Dr. Milhorat resigned as the Director of the Chiari Institute and as the Chief of the hospital’s neurosurgery department, but Dr. Bolognese returned to his practice yesterday, the same day Pirozzolo filed her suit.
It appears that other angry patients may be lining up against the doctors but at least for Dr. Bolognese, the pursuit of money does not seem dampened by recent events.
Bret Hanna of Wrona DuBois in Utah, focuses exclusively on litigating plaintiffs’ medical malpractice and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has represented clients in state and federal courts, in mediations, and in administrative proceedings in Michigan and Utah since 1991.
One Comment
J. Aloe
I sympathize with this poor soul.
I also had a bad experience, only the problem was that the surgeon showed up!
I had been diagnosed with a very common disorder & was referred to another North Shore Hospital on Long Island for laparoscopic surgery. This was in 2006. Very routine proceedure, so I thought. To make a long story short, I awoke from surgery to my frantic husband telling me to my horror, I was cut wide open 1" scar x 6" across my abdomen. The thing that is really screwed up, is that I was born WITHOUT THE ORGAN TO WHICH THE DISORDER WAS DIAGNOSED!!! The hospital never ran any tests and relied on an outside sono from a pretty prominant Radiology facility on Long Island before operating. How can such a screwup be made in this day & age!???!!
Anyway, of course, there was never any apology or even acknologement that anything bad had happened. I had to suffer in silencer when they pulled a drain from me & scooted me on my way home. When the presrip for Oxycodone expired, they were reluctant to let me have more. My husdband said that it was unbearable to see me in this much pain & that I had one night wished I could just die because the pain was so excruciating. I also developed post traumatic as a result of this and am still on meds & being treated by a Psychiatrist & Psychologist.
The only way a patient can ever get any recourse from such obvious medical malpractice is to SUE, SUE, SUE!!! It's the only way we may ever get any answers or closure for what we suffered through.
I look forward to the conclusion of my lawsuit because I need closure & justice. I would never want anyone else to go thru the hell I went for nothing...I never had the organ for which they operated on!!!!Duh!!!
I hope my story can shed some light on a very real problem, medical malpractice is real, it's the frivilous defenses from the doctors that is the real problem. Sometimes just an apology & acknoledgement is all that may be needed to appease a patient that has been wronge. But when that does not come, we become insensed & only legal action is the only recourse we can hope for.
Thank you for letting me vent my story.
Very sincerely,
J.Aloe
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