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Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital in McHenry, Ill. (Google Maps).
A Chicago-area hospital is being sued by a former patient after he claimed that the surgeon who operated on him left a sponge in his neck, requiring another surgery and delaying his cancer treatment.
Frank Kryzak, 71, underwent surgery on Jan. 31, 2023, to have lymph nodes in his neck removed and dissected as part of his cancer treatment. But in the “weeks and months” after surgery, his attorneys claimed that he experienced a number of symptoms, including swelling and discharge. Another surgery was performed that May, and the second surgeon discovered a surgical sponge — apparently left there from the first procedure.
The lawsuit filed in McHenry County Circuit Court on Jan. 30 accused medical staff at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital in McHenry, Illinois, of negligence and medical malpractice. According to the suit, which was obtained by WMAQ, a local NBC affiliate, Kryzak suffered “months of unnecessary pain and suffering, was forced to undergo a second surgery to remove the sponge, and had his cancer treatment delayed.”
The lawsuit named Dr. Aqeel Sandhu, the surgeon who performed the procedure, surgical technologist Meredith Gardner, and nurse Elizabeth Romanes. The suit claimed that after the initial procedure, Sandhu “failed to schedule follow-up visits or properly investigate the cause of the swelling and other symptoms.”
Those were the symptoms that led Kryzak to seek out a second opinion with a different surgeon. During a second procedure, on May 31, 2023, that surgeon removed a surgical sponge from his neck.
According to the lawsuit, the symptoms Kryzak experienced and the additional procedure caused a disruption in his cancer treatment.
“As a direct and proximate result of the retained surgical sponge, plaintiff sustained serious and permanent injury, experience[d] and will in the future experience significant pain and suffering, disability and loss of a normal life incurred and will in the future incur medical expenses, and experienced delay in his medical care,” the complaint said.
Court records showed that there was a scheduling conference set for May 1.
Law&Crime reached out to both Bobber, Teich & Pippin, the firm representing Kryzak, and Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital for a comment but did not receive an immediate response.
