Woman sues doctor after he left sponge inside her during Cesarean section

A new mother from Illinois, USA, Rachel Erceg, has sued the Prentice Women’s Hospital after doctors negligence led to them forgetting a sponge inside her after a Cesarean section was carried out on her to have her baby recently.

The 31-year-old Erceg and her husband, Stephen Bryant, were horrified when scans showed the sponge inside her three days after she was discharged from the hospital and they have filed a lawsuit naming the hospital, a doctor and two hospital employees as defendants.

The woman told the Cook County Circuit Court that she underwent the Caesarean section by her gynecologist, and during the procedure, a sponge was left inside her abdomen.

She was discharged from the hospital three days later, but returned to see the doctor on eight occasions, complaining of abdominal pain and other symptoms such as fever. However, she never had an X-ray or CT scan performed and the sponge was removed five months after the Cesarean section.

The couple, whose lawsuit is against Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Prentice Women’s Hospital, a doctor and two hospital employees, want at least $1,650,000 (£1,090,000) in damages.