
A lawsuit has been filed alleging that medical staff at Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry left a surgical sponge inside a patient following surgery.
Chicago-based law firm Bobber, Teich & Pippin filed the medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of 71-year-old Frank Kryzak in McHenry County Circuit Court on Thursday.
The lawsuit complaint said Kryzak was a patient at Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry on January 31, 2023, and underwent surgical left neck exploration for an excision of a cervical mass and lymph node dissection.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Aqeel A. Sandhu with Meredith Garner, a certified surgical tech, and Elizabeth Romanes, a registered nurse, assisting.
The complaint said Kryzak experienced swelling, pain and discharge in the weeks and months following the surgery.
He underwent a second surgery on May 31, 2023, to determine the cause of the symptoms.
“While he was unconscious, in some manner unknown to him, a retained surgical sponge was placed in his body and remained there after his surgical incision was closed,” the complaint said.
A surgical sponge, left behind by the January 31, 2023, surgical team, was located and removed during the second surgery, the complaint said.
The complaint said Kryzak did not undergo any surgical procedures or other events between the two surgeries that could have resulted in the retained surgical sponge.
The lawsuit alleges that Sandhu, Garner and Romanes were negligent when they failed to perform a sponge count to make sure all sponges were accounted for during the first surgery.
The suit also alleges that Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital was negligent in the incident and that Kryzak suffered “serious and permanent injury” and will suffer “significant pain and suffering, disability and loss of a normal life.”
“In the normal or ordinary course of events, a retained surgical sponge would not have occurred had defendants used a reasonable professional standard of care while plaintiff was under their management and control,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit seeks the court to award Kryzak an unspecified amount in excess of the jurisdictional requirements.
The first court hearing in the suit is scheduled for May 1.