A Northern Light surgeon removed a woman’s bladder instead of her ovarian cyst, a lawsuit filed earlier this month said.
Emily Mitchell, of Skowhegan, filed a lawsuit in Kennebec County Superior Court against Inland Hospital in Waterville and Northern Light Health, after a surgeon failed to follow proper safety protocols during what should have been a routine surgery, the lawsuit said.
Mitchell and her husband, Joshua Mitchell, allege the hospital failed to obtain informed consent to remove her bladder and that the health care system is medically negligent because of multiple failures around the removal and lack of timely action to address the medical issues. Joshua Mitchell also alleges he lost the care, comfort and companionship of his wife.
“Emily Mitchell is living a nightmare, suffering daily with a permanent injury that has dramatically altered her life,” said attorney Susan Faunce, with law firm Berman & Simmons. “Emily went to Inland Hospital for a routine day surgery and left without a vital organ.”
On March 1, 2023, Dr. Danielle Gagnon performed laparoscopic surgery on Mitchell, then 40, to remove the cyst on her left ovary. Instead her bladder was removed, the lawsuit said.
Gagon is no longer employed by Northern Light Heath, spokesperson Suzanne Spruce said. The health care system does not comment on pending litigation, Spruce said.
Northern Light closed Inland Hospital in June. It was losing roughly $1.5 million a month, hospital executives said previously.
After the surgery Mitchell was admitted to the hospital because she had “intense pain and discomfort, bloating, and trouble urinating,” the lawsuit said.
Mitchell was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor two days after her surgery because her symptoms were getting worse, according to the suit. Mitchell was prepared for an immediate exploratory surgery where doctors thought they would likely repair a bladder injury.
Two surgeons were unable to find Mitchell’s bladder wall during the procedure and two additional surgeons came in and agreed there was not enough healthy bladder tissue left to perform a reconstruction, the lawsuit said.
The material Gagon collected during the first surgery had been sent to pathology. During the second surgery, pathology was asked to review those specimens, which included, “full thickness fragments of bladder wall,” and no trace of ovarian tissue, the lawsuit said.
“Gagnon had incorrectly removed nearly all of Emily’s healthy bladder,” according to the lawsuit.
Mitchell had temporary tubes placed because she had no bladder and then had kidney infections, urinary tract infections and complications with medications during the months that followed, the lawsuit said.
In October 2023, Mitchell had surgery in Boston to create a new bladder out of tissue from her intestine, according to the lawsuit. The surgery was 200 percent harder and three hours longer than normal because of additional damage the surgeon discovered, the lawsuit said.
Mitchell has had on-going medical care for two years because her bladder was removed and has recurring urinary tract infections, according to the lawsuit.
If Gagnon and the health system had followed proper safety protocols, Mitchell’s bladder would not have been removed because the entire situation was preventable, Faunce said. The surgeon did not discuss the possibility of Mitchell’s bladder being removed before the original surgery, the lawsuit said.
“A reasonable person, under all surrounding circumstances, would not have consented to the surgery if she had known that Dr. Gagnon was going to remove her bladder or if there was a substantial risk that her bladder could be removed,” the lawsuit said.
