Medical Malpractice

The horrific facts in this medical malpractice case are almost too bizarre to believe. Our 48-year-old client heard numerous advertisements on the radio for a liposuction clinic and decided to have liposuction. The client was given twilight sedation, so she was awake, alert, and conscious, but she did not feel pain. As the procedure began, our client could hear the physician speaking on his cell phone speakerphone and as the procedure continued, she could tell he was becoming agitated and angry as he spoke with his cell phone carrier about a small recurring charge on his bill. As the surgeon became angrier, he used more force on the liposuction cannula and paid less attention to the client’s anatomy to ensure the cannula was in the right place as he thrust it into her abdomen. When the client returned home, the clinic and doctor did not follow up with her for three days and on the fourth day after surgery she reported dark, hardened skin in the area of her liposuction. The clinic told her it was just bruising and was normal. Six days after surgery, the client was experiencing symptoms of severe sepsis and went to the hospital where the doctors discovered her abdomen was not bruised–she had developed gangrene everywhere she had liposuction. She underwent fourteen (14) procedures, she lost all of the skin and subcutaneous fat from the top of her abdomen to her bikini line, and she had to undergo massive skin grafting with skin taken from her thighs. She suffered terribly, was horribly disfigured, and incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. Before we could file suit, the insurers for the clinic and plastic surgeon asked to settle the case and after some negotiations, the client received a settlement that would fairly compensate her for the horrors of her experience.