ORLANDO, Fla. – A Florida woman filed a lawsuit in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, alleging her pain management doctor performed a surgical procedure to which she did not consent.
Carrie Causey McShan, the plaintiff, filed the action in the Orange Circuit Court last week against Dr. Paul S. Webster. Other defendants listed include: Doctors’ Pain Management Associates, doing business as Advanced Neurospine Associates; Physician Partners of America LLC; Orlando Outpatient Surgery Center LLC; Medtronic, Inc.; and Dr. Deepak Sarkar.
McShan, who is representing herself, alleges in the lawsuit that she consulted with Webster and they agreed a “spinal cord stimulator,” provided by Medtronics, would be implanted utilizing what she describes as the “paddle method.”
This method for spinal cord stimulation involves placing a flat, paddle-like device with various electrodes near the spinal cord.
According to McShan’s complaint, both she and Webster knew the implant legally required a neurosurgeon to be present during the procedure. However, she claims Webster did not have a neurosurgeon in the operating room on her June 10, 2021 surgery.
Instead, the plaintiff contends, Webster breached his duty of care by implanting the device using a “percutaneous method” without her consent.
In surgery, a “percutaneous” procedure is done via needle-puncture, instead of opening the skin and exposing inner organs or tissues.
According to the DPMA website, Webster is both board certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. He treats patients for all types of pain, including headaches, musculoskeletal and osteoarthritic disorders, failed-back surgeries, and cancer pain.
McShan’s lawsuit argues that DPMA, Physician Partners of America, and Orlando Outpatient Surgery Center are all responsible for the acts of their agents, including Sarkar, who served as the anesthesiologist for the procedure.
Sarkar should not have administered the anesthesia knowing that the procedure was unconsented to, the plaintiff argues.
According to the lawsuit, Medtronic also “should have known or had actual knowledge” that their spinal cord stimulator was “going to be implanted contrary to the plan consented to” by the plaintiff.
The company breached their care of duty by “failing to exercise due care in only allowing the product to be implanted as was authorized and agreed to by the Plaintiff,” the 36-page lawsuit states.
McShan is suing for negligence, medical battery, negligence sounding in contract, and vicarious liability.
She is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and a trial by jury “of all issues so triable.”