Med mal suit claims surgeons removed wrong end of colon

The son of a recently deceased woman has filed suit against the doctor who he claims failed to take out the correct end of his mother’s colon, causing her to die of sepsis.

Dondre Seawood claims defendant Drs. Bruce Jones and Bassam Albarcha performed a colostomy on Mary Seawood in which they removed a portion of her colon. However, during the procedure, Jones and Albarcha took out the wrong end of the colon, according to the complaint filed Nov. 18 in St. Clair County Circuit Court.

“As a direct and proximate result of one or more of the aforesaid acts or omissions of negligence on the part of the defendant, the plaintiff suffered severe and permanent injuries which include filling up her body with feces, suffering from sepsis, extreme pain, stink and bloating, and ultimately death,” the suit states.

Because of Mary Seawood’s death, her children lost her society, companionship, guidance, advice, love and affection, the complaint says.

Dondre Seawood blames Jones and Albarcha for causing his mother’s death, saying the doctors negligently failed to adequately identify the limbs of the colon, failed to appropriately take out the correct end of the colon, failed to adequately refer Seawood to a competent specialist and failed to recognize the mistakes made in the surgery.

In addition to the doctors, Seawood names Touchette Regional Hospital as a defendant, saying it hired the doctors as its employees and is liable for their actions.

In his complaint, Dondre Seawood is seeking a judgment of more than $300,000, plus costs.

Jason R. Caraway of Kolker Law Offices in Belleville will be representing him.

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-586.