Many individuals who experience painful or unusual symptoms, seek the advice of a medical professional. In some cases, upon inspecting a patient, a doctor may not be able to readily determine the cause of such symptoms. In such cases, a doctor may need to perform additional tests or exploratory procedures to pinpoint what is causing the problem.

Unfortunately, in some cases, these types of exploratory procedures result in a patient suffering harm or injury. A man recently filed a lawsuit against his doctor after a medical error during an exploratory surgery resulted in the loss of one of the man's healthy kidneys.

According to the lawsuit, the man sought the advice of a doctor after noticing blood in his urine. Believing the patient may have a bladder tumor, the doctor scheduled an exploratory procedure to examine the site. Upon doing so, however, the surgical scope and guide wire became lodged in the man's body. While attempting to dislodge the medical instruments, the man's ureter was torn.

In an attempt to rectify the medical error, the doctor decided to remove the man's kidney. The doctor did not, however, obtain the patient's consent prior to doing so. As a result of the doctor's error and decision to remove the man's kidney, the man has developed adverse side effects that will likely impact his health and quality of life.

The man recently filed a lawsuit related to the medical error in which he accuses the doctor of negligence in failing to properly perform a medical procedure. Additionally, the doctor is accused of failing to obtain consent prior to removing a major organ. The man is suing to recover compensation related to the permanent and debilitating injuries he's sustained as well as pain and suffering, medical expenses and lost wages.

Source: The Louisiana Record, "Doctor sued by man whose kidney had to be removed due to surgery complications," Kyle Barnett, Sep. 2, 2013