A Texas family is suing Texas Children's Hospital in Houston after their four-year-old son allegedly received an unintentional vasectomy while undergoing an operation for an inguinal hernia. The family brought their lawsuit under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 74, which covers medical malpractice.
The family details that their son was suffering from swelling in his scrotum that would increase in size during the evening hours. The child's doctor, Susan Jarosz, DO, determined that the child had a hernia on the right side of his scrotum. As a result, Dr. Jarosz determined the child would need surgery to repair it.
In August 2021, Dr. Jarosz worked alongside a resident to perform the operation. In their lawsuit the family details that after the hernia sac was sent to pathology, the report issued from pathology indicated that traces of tissue from the vas deferens was present in the sample. According to the lawsuit, the family details that because this tissue was present, an unintended vasectomy was performed on the child.
The lawsuit details that Dr. Jarosz was "negligent in providing medical treatment by failing to act as a reasonable healthcare provider should have done." As a result of the negligence, the family is seeking damages over $250,000 but no more than $1 million on behalf of the suffering their child, named in the suit “R.B”, will endure. The family contends that the doctor's negligence and her breach of the standard of care will “have long-lasting effects on R.B., including his fertility, as well as the emotional and psychological damage.”
In their lawsuit, the family goes into detail about the procedure explaining that Dr. Jarosz failed to act as a reasonable health care provider when operating on the child. The suit lists several claims including Dr. Jarosz’s failure to carefully distinguish between the hernia sac and the vas deferens, failure to perform the surgery, and failure to comply with safety protocol. The suit also claims that because of Dr. Jarosz’s negligence, medical conditions were created that required the family to seek additional medical and surgical care.
The lawsuit also details that the child will likely battle fertility issues later on in life and that this will be an issue the child will have to contend with as he grows up. Included in the consequence of Dr. Jarosz’s actions is the difficulty that the child will face when discussing his reproductive health with future serious partners.
The lawsuit details, “Having what is essentially an unintended vasectomy at the age of 4 years old is an unacceptable outcome when a patient goes in for a hernia repair surgery. Moreover, the emotional and psychological effects of living with this knowledge is unfathomable — firstly for the parents and then for R B. himself.”
The family details in their lawsuit that they are seeking compensation for damages including but not limited to future medical expenses, pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, and future expenditures for fertility treatments.
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