$2M lawsuit claims surgical forceps were left in woman’s pelvis

An Anne Arundel County woman has filed a $2 million federal lawsuit against a medical device manufacturer, claiming that part of the forceps used during her hysterectomy broke off and remained in her pelvis for more than a year.

Kimberly E. Williams experienced lower abdominal pain and pressure following the surgery at a Virginia military hospital in February 2008, according to the complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The pain had become “unbearable” by July 2009 when she went to the emergency department, this time at a Maryland hospital.

“A ‘curved metallic foreign body’ measuring 3.5 x 0.4 x 0.3 cm with three plastic prongs measuring 0.1 cm in diameter and extending out 0.2 cm’ was removed from Mrs. Williams and sent to pathology on July 6, 2009,” the complaint says.

Massachusetts-based Gyrus AMCI recalled its forceps, used for clamping ligaments and blood vessels, as a result of the incident, when a shim broke from the instrument during Williams’ surgery, according to the suit. A Gyrus “rep” had observed the procedure at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, according to the surgeon’s operative note.

Yet it wasn’t until Sept. 17, 2010, that Williams’ lawyers learned the object was a shim from Gyrus’ forceps and that the company had recalled its product, the complaint alleges.

Williams, who lives at Fort Meade in Hanover, felt better once the foreign object was removed, but developed irritable bowel syndrome and now distrusts the medical community, according to the complaint. She seeks the same damages on six counts ranging from negligence to strict liability for a design defect.

“If the GYRUS forceps had not been defectively designed, Mrs. Williams would not have experienced the many months of pain and suffering, permanent physical injury, the rehospitalization and additional surgery, the lost wages, and the other injuries she suffered,” the suit says. The second surgery was performed at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

Phone messages left at the offices of her attorneys — Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester LLC in Silver Spring and Kopstein & Associates LLC in Seabrook — were not immediately returned Monday evening. A spokeswoman for Gyrus, whose parent company is Olympus America Inc., did not return an e-mail seeking comment.