Man Sues Dallas Doc, McKinney Hospital After Losing Testicle, Length of Colon...

[TexasTowelie]

...Due to Allegedly Botched Hernia Surgery

Pedro Hermenegildo didn't have insurance, so he paid Dr. Ricardo Rocha in cash to repair a hernia, a fairly routine, outpatient procedure. But according to a lawsuit filed against Rocha in a Dallas County district court last week, Hermenegildo lost much more than his hernial bulge.

The surgery was performed in Rocha's clinic, "in a room no different than that which is typical of a primary care physician," the complaint alleges. "It was a small room with the usual brown reclining chair covered with white paper." Hermenegildo claims there was no anesthesiologist present, and that Rocha used only ketamine, described in this case as a "local numbing agent" "frequently used by veterinarians." Instead of a simple, one-hour outpatient procedure, Hermenegildo says it lasted an "excruciating" eight hours.

"Ultimately, Rocha called it quits," the suit claims. "Rocha wanted to go home and told Pedro he needed to leave the clinic." Hermenegildo's attorney could not be reached for comment, but the complaint says that his unnamed pastor, who was also a Dallas Police officer, intervened and Hermenegildo was allowed to stay. He was sent home the next day.

At home, Hermenegildo alleges his pain intensified. He says he was "scream(ing) in agony and even passed out from the pain." That evening, he claims someone called 911. Hermenegildo says he had to be removed from his home through the bedroom window. He was transported Medical Center of McKinney with "unbelievable pain and a grotesquely swollen scrotum."

[font color=green]The remainder of the story is not for people who get squeamish as the medical complications are described. It turns out that the physician is in 80's and that he had disciplinary actions on his medical license also. Why the state medical board allowed this danger to society to "practice" his craft is beyond my comprehension though.[/font]

More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/07/man_sues_dallas_doc_mckinney_h.php

[TreasonousBastard]

1. The real villain is the lack of decent health care so many people have that...

pushes them to butchers like this. I have no doubt this is not an uncommon story.

There's a lot of talk about back alley abortionists, which are bad enough, but the horrible truth is this sort of "care" is all too common across all areas of medicine.

[darkangel218]

2. banning abortion

Has already started. I grew up in east Europe, moved to US a long time ago, but nevertheless I haven't forgotten how many women died from back alley abortions. Republicans are so freaking out of touch with reality, its sickening!

[LiberalLoner]

5. Welcome to DU, darkangel, I look forward to your posts and hope that

we can learn from your perspective! I am very interested in what you have to say because I am worried we are going to become a repressive, police-state society the way Eastern Europe used to be under the control of the USSR.

[mbperrin]

3. It's apparently impossible to actually lose a medical license in Texas.

My dad was diagnosed with a kidney infection by a doctor new to town who had bought an existing practice. For a YEAR, he prescribed various antibiotics to no avail. He was in pain. We were living 600 miles away at the time, but during a phone conversation with dad, I realized that this had been going on for a year.

I took him to my own doctor, who referred him to an oncologist. He had kidney cancer that had metastasized. He was dead within the year. The doc still practiced, but with some sort of supervision for 90 days. That was all.

A teaching colleague of mine using the same doctor died last year from a blood infection.

Texas, the land of the non-regulators.

[They_Live]

4. Remember this story

when you hear GOP types groaning about how we need even more tort/lawsuit reform to keep medical costs down.