BELLEVILLE – A man alleges his esophagus was injured during a procedure at Memorial Hospital of Belleville, and a physician failed to examine him for injuries after the surgery.
Darren Vines filed a complaint on Jan. 8 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Vasantha Pai MD; Memorial Regional Health Services Inc., doing business as Memorial Hospital of Belleville; and Aaron Greenspan MD, alleging negligence.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Jan. 22, 2016, Pai performed an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) on him at Memorial Hospital of Belleville. The suit states the procedure caused a 10 centimeter tear in the plaintiff's esophagus that resulted in bleeding, re-hospitalization, a second EGD, respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest.
The plaintiff alleges Pai over-dilated his esophagus without first thoroughly evaluating if he was an appropriate candidate for dilation and failed to examine his esophagus after the procedure to ensure no injuries were present.
The plaintiff seeks damages to commensurate the harm caused to him.
He is represented by Stephen W. Stone of Howerton Dorris, Stone & Lambert in Marion.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 18-L-10