Baltimore County woman sues Sinai Hospital for malpractice

A Baltimore County woman who suffered complications after a piece of plastic became lost in her abdomen during surgery has filed a malpractice lawsuit against Sinai Hospital, alleging the doctor who performed the surgery recommended an unnecessary invasive procedure for profit.

In November 2014, Gale Arrington of Randallstown underwent a robotic-assisted right salpingo-oophorectomy — removal of the right ovary and fallopian tube — to remove a tumor called a dermoid. The piece of plastic left in her abdomen during surgery caused sharp, chronic abdominal pain, and she will likely need another surgery in the future to remove it, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit, filed June 12 in Baltimore City Circuit Court, alleges intentional misrepresentation and constructive fraud, in addition to malpractice. Arrington is seeking $5 million in punitive damages, as well as unspecified compensatory damages.

“Needless to say, our client, who has Stage IV cancer, is very concerned about this piece of plastic being inside of her body. She went in to be treated for cancer — one health problem — and now she’s got another health problem,” said Donald R. Huskey of the Law Offices of Donald R. Huskey LLC in Owings Mills, one of Arrington’s attorneys. “The problem is that it is not biodegradable and that it could cause an infection.”

Dr. Abbie Fields, the division head of Sinai’s gynecologic oncology department, is also a named defendant in the suit. Fields performed the procedure with help from Dr. Caroline Davis, the lawsuit states.

“Dr. Fields led the Claimant to believe that she needed this type of invasive procedure to address the dermoid and the Claimant relied on the representation,” the lawsuit reads. “Dr. Fields made false misrepresentations for the purpose of defrauding the Claimant and billing for unnecessary care and treatment.”

Sharon Boston, director of public relations for LifeBridge Health, which operates Sinai Hospital, said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

‘EndoCatch’ bag

During the Nov. 12, 2014 procedure, part of the dermoid mass that Fields and Davis were attempting to remove and place in an “EndoCatch” bag used for surgery broke free and fell back into Arrington’s abdominal cavity, the suit states. The doctors pulled the bag out and began to replace it with another, but soon noticed a piece of the first bag remained in the cavity.

Although Fields and Davis thought they would be able to remove the piece of the bag along with the rest of the mass, they were unsuccessful. When they pulled the tumor out, not only was the piece of plastic not attached to it, it was also no longer visible in the cavity, according to the complaint.

At this point, the doctors consulted a hospital attorney, who advised them to ask Arrington’s family for permission to perform an exploratory surgery to remove the remaining piece of the plastic bag, the suit states. The family denied permission, and Arrington, who also has Stage IV cervical cancer, was discharged the next day.

After her surgery, Arrington began to suffer sharp pains in her abdomen and will likely need another surgery to remove the piece of the bag, the suit alleges.

Unknown risk

Fields failed to conclusively establish “why removal of the benign dermoid via an invasive surgical technique … was necessary given [Arrington’s] then-existing morbid obesity and Stage IV cervical cancer diagnosis,” the suit alleges.

If Arrington had known the risks of the surgery, including the risk that part of the EndoCatch bag would become lost during surgery, the lawsuit states, she would have chosen not to have the surgery and would have consulted another gynecologic oncologist.

The EndoCatch bag used during the surgery also had a “historically dark past” related to surgical complications, which Fields should have known about, the lawsuit states.

Arrington is also represented by Governor E. Jackson III of the Law Offices of Governor E. Jackson III LLC in Towson.

The case is Gale Arrington v. Dr. Abbie Fields and Sinai Hospital of Baltimore Inc., 24-C-15-003108.