BELLEVILLE - A Mascoutah woman is suing a doctor and nurses for alleging leaving a surgical pad inside her abdomen after surgery.
Robyn and Matthew Scott filed the complaint in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Steven Mathus, M.D., Jennifer Sturgeon, R.N., Denise Feld, Heartland Women's Healthcare IL PC, doing business as Heartland Women's Healthcare and Metro-East Services Inc., doing business as Memorial Hospital East.
According to the complaint, Robyn Scott claims the doctor and medical staff negligently performed an operation to have her fallopian tubes removed after the plaintiff delivered a child on April 17, 2018, at Memorial Hospital East.
Then on Nov. 29, 2018, Scott had a planned hysterectomy at St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
Both surgeries were performed by Dr. Frank Mussemann. Mathus was the first assistant during the fallopian tube removal surgery.
Scott claims she experienced pain after both surgeries.
"In follow-up visits after each surgery, Robyn did not report any unusual pain, or lingering pain and soreness, because these symptoms were common side-effects of her two previous surgeries," the suit states.
In June 2020, she underwent an ultrasound and then a computed tomography scan (CT scan) after the pain continued.
"The July 31,2020, CT scan confirmed that the source of Robyn's pain was due to a foreign mass located in her central pelvis, rather than gallbladder disease or pain of unknown
etiology, as previously suspected," the lawsuit states. "The diagnosis from this scan was a 'suspected retained foreign body mass.'"
Scott had another operation to remove the mass on Aug. 10, 2020.
"The surgeon noted that during dissection of the mass, fibers of what appeared to be a surgical laparotomy pad were present," the lawsuit states. "The surgeon removed the rest of the mass and confirmed the mass in question was a surgical pad that had been in left inside Robyn's abdomen during a previous surgery."
The Scotts seek a judgment in excess of $50,000 for each count, plus interest and court costs. They are represented by David Nelson of Nelson & Nelson Attorneys at Law in Belleville.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 22LA682