Hysterectomy Malpractice Lawsuit Results in $10 Million Award for NY Couple

The lawsuit claims the wife was misdiagnosed as having a urinary tract infection, instead of identifying the hysterectomy complications.

A jury has awarded a New York couple $10 million in a hysterectomy malpractice lawsuit, after a surgery left the wife incontinent when she was misdiagnosed as suffering from a urinary tract infection, and the post-surgery complications were not properly addressed.

According to the lawsuit, Michele Nugent underwent a hysterectomy in October 2018, due to scarring and uterine bleeding after having given birth to four children via cesarean section. She was diagnosed with adenomyosis. However, following the surgery, she began to suffer nausea, vomiting and urinary leakage.

Nugent went to the emergency room and was told she was suffering normal symptoms from the laparoscopic hysterectomy, but her symptoms continued to worsen, and her gynecologist, Dr. Eli Serur diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection and placed her on antibiotics. However, the symptoms were actually signs of hysterectomy complications, and her problems continued to worsen and cause her to lose control of her bladder.

Nugent later underwent additional surgery after a urologist discovered a fistula between her vagina and bladder. However, she still suffers from incontinence and says sex with her husband has become impossible due to the pain.

Last month, a Staten Island jury awarded the couple $10 million in damages for the medical malpractice lawsuit filed against Serur, determining he had made a surgical error which was later compounded by a medical misdiagnosis. The verdict includes $6.5 million to Nugent for past and future suffering, as well as $3.5 million to her husband for loss of consortium.

While the defense argued Nugent’s condition was the result of multiple cesarean surgeries, the jury concluded Serur had failed to meet standards of “good and accepted medical practice.” They found that Serur had failed to test her bladder and failed to consider a fistula was causing her incontinence problems after the operation.