Malpractice trial kicks off in case of surgical tool left in woman's abdomen

Attorneys made opening statements Tuesday in a high-stakes civil trial centered on a 2019 surgery that left a 14-inch metal instrument inside a woman’s abdomen for nearly two months.

Michelle Torma of Bernalillo County underwent surgery Jan. 29, 2019, at Presbyterian Hospital to remove a 75-pound benign tumor from her abdomen, attorneys told jurors.

Torma underwent a second surgery on March 28, 2019, after a CT scan identified a long, rectangular, metal object in her abdomen. The object was found to be a retractor, left there by the surgical team months earlier.

Torma filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging medical negligence and other claims against Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Southwest Women’s Oncology and Southwest’s gynecologic oncologist, Dr. Karen Finkelstein, who performed the surgery.

The trial is scheduled through Jan. 15 before 2nd Judicial District Judge Denise Barela-Shepherd.

Torma’s attorney, Jacob Vigil, asked jurors to award his client $10 million in compensatory damages and “multiples higher” in punitive damages. He didn’t identify a specific dollar amount in punitive damages.

Vigil argued that the operating room was “jam packed” with “curiosity seekers” that resulted in a chaotic surgical environment.

“This was kind of a side show, removing such a large tumor and large cyst,” Vigil said. As a result, he said, “nobody is doing their job.”

Vigil argued that surgical personnel violated the hospital’s own policies that establish an accounting procedure for every surgical instrument used in a procedure.

Shannon Sherrell, an attorney for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, acknowledged that surgical personnel mistakenly left the retractor in Torma’s abdomen after removing the tumor.

“This should not have happened,” Sherrell told jurors. “Presbyterian Healthcare Services accepts its shared team responsibility for the retained retractor.”

She argued that the personnel in the operating room were required for what she described as a difficult surgery.

“The surgery was very complex and difficult,” Sherrell said. “Given the size of this tumor, multiple staff members had to be present in the operating room in order to ensure that this tumor was safely removed.”

The key issue for jurors will be to determine an appropriate damage award, but the punitive damages Torma seeks is not warranted, Sherrell said.

Finkelstein’s attorney, Bryan C. Garcia, told jurors that surgeons depend on specialized medical personnel who are responsible for counting all the instruments used in a procedure and ensuring they are removed.

“You will learn that surgeons rely on the other team members to ensure that the instrument counts are accurate,” Garcia said.

“In this case, Presbyterian has acknowledged that its nurses and staff got the instrument count wrong,” he said. “You will learn that surgery is a team sport and everybody has their own job with its own responsibilities and duties.”