Nurse Left Paralyzed After Surgeon Operated on Wrong Side of Spine, Jury Awards $2.045 Million

Patricia Bent spent decades working as an emergency room and trauma nurse. In that career, she had seen what could go wrong in an operating room. In 2013 she had no reason to worry: a right-sided laminectomy performed by Dr. Navinder Singh Sethi of Potomac Valley Orthopaedic Associates had successfully relieved a herniated disk, and she recovered without complication.

About a year later, in the summer of 2014, Bent returned to Dr. Sethi with pain, numbness, and tingling on her left side. He recommended a bilateral laminectomy, proposing to operate on both sides of her lumbar spine simultaneously. Her right side, the one already treated, was not causing her any symptoms. Her attorneys would later argue at trial that Sethi operated anyway, cutting into the previously repaired right side where scar tissue from the earlier procedure made a dural tear far more likely.

The tear happened. Cerebrospinal fluid leaked from a breach in the membrane surrounding Bent's spinal cord. Permanent nerve damage followed. After the surgery she had no feeling on her right side from the waist to her foot. She can walk only short distances using a four-wheeled walker, requires a wheelchair for any longer distance, and can no longer drive. The 64-year-old nurse who had spent her career caring for others now needs a full-time caregiver herself. Her nursing career, which had paid roughly $70,000 a year, was over.

Attorneys A. Wray Fitch IV and Tara M. Clary of the firm tried the case over eight days before Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell. They argued two theories: that Sethi performed an unnecessary operation on a side of the spine that was not causing Bent any problem, and that he failed to obtain her informed consent by not disclosing that dural tear risks in spinal revision procedures can run as high as 30 percent. The defense maintained that the surgery was appropriate and that the complication was a known risk Bent had accepted.

After two days of deliberation, the jury sided with Bent on both counts. It awarded $84,148 in past medical expenses, $370,064 for future care costs, $586,001 in lost wages, and $1,005,000 in non-economic damages. The non-economic portion was reduced to $740,000 under Maryland's statutory cap, bringing the total judgment to $2,045,213.51. The verdict was returned May 9, 2019.

Dr. Sethi and Potomac Valley Orthopaedic Associates appealed. In March 2021, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals affirmed the circuit court judgment in all respects.