Verdicts

A New York appeals court has held that, because a catheter left behind in the plaintiff's body must be characterized as a “fixation device” and not as a “foreign object,” any suit seeking damages for injury therefrom must be filed within the normal period authorized for bringing medical malpractice claims. Walton v. Strong Memorial Hospital, 2014 NY Slip Op 1084 (App. Div., 4th Dept. 2/14/14).

The trial court (Supreme Court, Erie County (John M. Curran, J.)), dismissed all claims seeking damages for injuries allegedly caused when a polyvinyl catheter was left behind in the then-three-year-old plaintiff's chest cavity following heart surgery. This device and others had been intended to stay in the child's body for a short time as monitoring devices; three days following surgery a follow-up procedure was performed to remove them. A nursing note made at that time indicated a catheter “possibly broke off with a portion remaining in [patient].” In 2008, when the patient had reached the age of 25, that missing piece of catheter was found, and he underwent another procedure to have it removed. The plaintiff then brought suit against the medical care providers who operated on him when he was a child. They sought and were granted dismissal of the claims for untimely filing.