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Woman Gets $2.4 Million After Sponge Left In Body

Teacher Went To Hospital For Routine C-Section, Lawyer Says

POSTED: Thursday, October 4, 2007

UPDATED: 6:23 pm EDT October 4, 2007

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- A Broward County jury awarded more than $2.4 million to a first-grade teacher who lawyers said was left permanently disabled after doctors left a foot-long sponge in her body.

Karlene Chambers, of Pembroke Pines, was scheduled for a routine Cesarean procedure on Sept. 11, 2001, at Memorial Hospital West. Nearly two weeks after her surgery, Chamber was readmitted to another hospital and placed in intensive care after she had severe abdominal pain.

A CAT scan revealed that the surgeon who performed the C-section, Dr. Joseph Becerra of the Pembroke Pines OB/GYN Associates, had left a foot-long surgical sponge in Chambers' body.

The jury awarded the verdict Tuesday after a 12-day trial.

Representatives for Chambers said that an infection caused by the incident ravaged her abdomen and uterus and that she will never be able to have children again.

An X-ray shows the foot-long sponge, with a ribbon attached. The ribbon is made from a special material that shows up on X-rays, so that the sponges can be found in case they are left in a body.

Chambers underwent a second surgery to remove the sponge.

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