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Deborah Craven, 60, is filing a lawsuit against Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale University School of Medicine and two surgeons because she claims they removed the wrong body part during a surgery last year.
The complaint filed in Connecticut Superior Court said part of Craven's left eighth rib was being removed because of a precancerous lesion. Instead, part of her left seventh rib was removed.
The complaint said Craven had to go into surgery again to get part of the correct rib removed.
According to Craven's lawyer, Joel Faxon, Craven said she had pain after her her surgery on May 18.
Faxon said Dr. Anthony Kim, an assistant professor of surgery at Yale, told Craven and her husband after an X-ray that the wrong rib had been operated on.
Faxon said Dr. Ricardo Quarrie, who the complaint said is a "resident/fellow" of Kim, said something different moments later.
The suit said Quarrie told the Cravens that she would need another surgery because surgeons did not remove enough rib.
The Cravens asked that Quarrie was not involved in the second surgery, but Faxon said medical records show Quarrie was involved.
"Making the patient undergo another surgery the same day, without owning up to the real medical reason for the repeat surgery is just plain deceitful," Faxon said in a statement to WTIC Thursday. "Absent the lying my client never would have instituted a lawsuit."
According to the suit, doctors should have known they removed part of the wrong rib because the right rib was already marked before surgery with dye and metal coils. It also said that surgeons did not do an X-ray after the surgery to ensure it was properly done.
In a statement to CNN, Yale said the hospital is "committed to providing the safest and highest quality of care possible. However, even in the best organizations medical errors may occur. When they do, our goal is to acknowledge them, learn from them, and ensure that we minimize any chance that they ever occur again."
Craven is seeking upwards of $15,000 in damages.
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