A Florida judge is filing his own medical malpractice suit against the hospital that allegedly left a foot-long size sponge inside his body following surgery at a West Palm Beach hospital. The judge underwent surgery last year at Good Samaritan Medical Center to treat his diverticulitis, a digestive disease of the large intestine. Following the surgery, the judge did not see the pain getting any better, it in fact got worse. The 67-year-old judge experienced more pronounced stomach pain following the operation.

Doctor's were puzzled as to why the judge was experiencing discomfort following the procedure. It was not until nearly 5 months after the surgery until doctors operated on the man and found a 12-by-12 inch surgical sponge festering inside his body, which was left there during the initial surgery. The sponge had been inside the judge's body so long that it began to literally rot inside of him, causing a serious infection. As a result of the infection, surgeons were forced to remove part of his intestine.

As a result of this case, the judge reached a settlement with the hospital and its owners but the judge plans to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against two radiologists and a surgeon at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Florida.

According to the Journal of Radiology, "the leaving behind of surgical objects in patients is a "highly underestimated problem" and a recent report says that some 1,500 patients in the U.S. find themselves in the same boat each year - with foreign matter left in their bodies after surgery." The most common items left behind are surgical sponges but most are not as large as the one detailed in the case above.

Source: MSNBC.com "Doctors find 1-square-foot sponge inside patient" 09/15/2010