Man sues Md. doctor, says butt stapled shut
By Luke Broadwater
Examiner Staff Writer 9/23/08
Ronald Watkins, 64, of West Virginia, is suing Manuel Casiano, a doctor in Frederick County, for allegedly botching a 2004 surgery that left Watkins with permanent bowel problems.
“The reason for suing Dr. Casiano is very simple: His rectum was stapled shut,” said Julia Lodowski, who with attorney Emily Malarkey is representing Watkins and his wife, Brenda.
Lodowski told jurors in U.S. District Court that Watkins now experiences “rectal discharge” and needs to wipe himself between 12 and 15 times a day.
He’s also had to have four “unnecessary surgeries” because of Casiano’s actions, Lodowski said.
The doctor’s attorney, Conrad Varner, said Watkins’ bowels merely became “swollen shut” because of medical problems — not because of stapling.
Varner said Watkins’ habitual smoking — two packs a day — contributed to his bowel problems, because nicotine constricts blood vessels.
Watkins underwent surgery Sept. 8, 2004, for a newly diagnosed rectal tumor, during which Casiano made the mistake, according to his lawsuit against the Foris Surgical Group.
Watkins then complained of increasing rectal pressure, and an inability to pass gas, his lawsuit states.
In a subsequent surgery, Casiano found that Watkins’ rectum was closed because of staples, according to the lawsuit.
“He couldn’t get past the staple line,” Lodowski told jurors.
“How else do we know that his rectum was stapled shut? Most importantly, Dr. Casiano said so.”
A graduate of New York School of Medicine who works at Frederick Memorial Hospital, Casiano has no record of any disciplinary actions, according to the Maryland Board of Physicians.
Watkins’ lawsuit does not seek a specific amount of damages.
The trial is expected to continue for four days.
lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com
60 Comments
Reader Comments:
POSTED Sep 23, 2008
Bob: "17 days is a long long time!"POSTED Sep 23, 2008
jb theguy: "Now just how does a doctor make a mistake like that? its ridiculous!"POSTED Sep 23, 2008
bellamary: "My condolences--he should get extra $ for this showing up in the paper!"POSTED Sep 23, 2008
Nicole: "17 days? Bet it felt like 17 YEARS...poor fellow!"POSTED Sep 23, 2008
Its in me!!: "gud poople!"POSTED Sep 23, 2008
Cjn: "Its very unfortunate that there are people who don't know what they are doing and become doctors. Doctors should go to jail for these sort of things this is completly asinying for someone of this field do do something like this."POSTED Sep 23, 2008
Rose Young-Stewart: "Staples don't stay in for 17 days."POSTED Sep 24, 2008
The Medic: "Humm, this sounds like another fool wanting to sue the doctor because he didn't take the time to read the paperwork. If he was having rectal problems then he would have sought help before 17 days. Sounds to me like this was a complication from the surgery, for which he did not read the entire paper before under going the treatment. It would seem obvious that ignorance is clearly to blame here. As for the doctor, and with any type of surgery, complications can happen, but would it be fair to sue the doctor every time something happens that isn't expected? Get a life dude! And further more, if I wasn't able to pass gas, I'd had that checked asap! However, there are stupid people everywhere, and this poor chap happens to fit that description. Shameful what the world is coming to now days....."POSTED Sep 24, 2008
mike: "send this to kirk ..."POSTED Sep 24, 2008
JGO: "The medic guy needs to have his rectum stapled shut. I am in a similar situation, dont want to go into details but it was a rectum stapling as well, it has now been 17 days as of today since I last had a bowel movement. You see my bowels no longer work either, Thanks to the Doc. My orginal surgery was routine, but turned very bad after the staple was later found in my rectum. I understand mistakes happen, but wait until one of those mistakes changes your life forever, I would like for the medic to be on the receiving end of that 17 day movement! Jerks without knowledge suck!!!"POSTED Sep 24, 2008
JB the man: ""Now just how does a doctor make a mistake like that? its ridiculous!" Well, duh...he's human, not infallible. His title is DOCTOR not GOD."POSTED Sep 24, 2008
Sha'Ron: "It is very unfortunate this happen to him and regardless who fault it is this could have really made hin sick holding 17 days of waste in his body i am glad he is ok some people are just so ignorant and insensitive to others."POSTED Sep 25, 2008
battmann187: "If I was the judge I would put some of the responsibility on the man. If I hadn't gone to the bathroom in 2 days I would have been in somebody's E.R. 17 days without taking a dump....come on!"POSTED Sep 25, 2008
Ronaldo: "Can I get that done to my wife's mouth?"POSTED Sep 25, 2008
Ken: "What's he complaining about? Being unable to defecate for 17 days means that he is so full of you-know-what that he qualifies for a lucrative new career as a politician."POSTED Sep 25, 2008
Stuckey: "This is totally what my friend Kato needs. HE STINKS"POSTED Sep 25, 2008
Baldninja: "People with bowel problems or other intestinal problems of severity often go several days without being able to pass gas or deficate, so for them going a day or two isn't that big of a deal to cause real concern, especially after surgical procedures have been done to "correct" these issues. Regardless, it would never be in someone's best interest to have their anus stapled shut, so this surgeon obviously either screwed up or did this intentionally....for what reason he might do it intentionally, God only knows."POSTED Sep 25, 2008
Kato: "Im gonna pay this doctor to visit my friend Stuckey"POSTED Sep 25, 2008
kato: "Im gonna pay this doctor to make a house call to my friend Stuckey. His co-workers will chip in."POSTED Sep 25, 2008
sphd: "Yeah, my fried ken needs this. Espcially afer a bunch Jamison and then some yeager bombs while walking the streets of Madison. "check out that guy""POSTED Sep 26, 2008
Smirky: ""The medic guy needs to have his rectum stapled shut." Maybe they should extract his head first."POSTED Sep 28, 2008
: "the account of this lawsuit in the examiner was misleading. Please do a better job of summarizing. Pertinent facts need to be in place. certainly there is a difference between a baltimore city trial and a federal trial."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Steve Shochet Jr.: "I know what it's like. Not fun - trust me."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Justin: "I cannot believe this guy did not get help after a minimum of 3 days!"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
: "must have felt great on the 18th day lol"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Cluster Tim: "Soundsl ike he has a good case to me! www.privacy.es.tc"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
asano_man: "XD Wow, that sucks! How does a doctor "accidently" do that? He meant to do that!"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Condolencer: "Bad luck man!17 days.Unbelievable!"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
asdf: "Interesting."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
goodoldboy: "Imagine how nasty the second surgery was on that 17th day... he prolly removed the staples, and then his bowels got everywhere... I wouldn't perform that procedure for any amount of money."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
wtf: "I find it weird he didn't get help after just a few days, it's his own frickin' fault."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Jay: "From a medical perspective having a staple line in no way suggests that this man had his anus shut. I've been in a few surgeries where people had their anus permanently shut and it is pretty obvious from the outside. The staple line in question is from when the doctor reattaches the intestine back to the anus after removing the rectum. Since the guy is saying he should still have use of his bowels that means his tumor was in the proximal (closer to the large intestine) portion of his rectum and so the surgery they used was a low anterior resection. The staple gun they used to reattach the portions of the bowel could have become infected or swollen due to edema, so the doctor might be blameless. I agree with previous posters saying that 17 days is a ridiculous time to wait before having a bowel movement. Additionally, I would like to note if the doctor let him leave the hospital without having a bowel movement since that is usually a requirement for discharge."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
FreeAtLast: "This is torture!!"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
HolySmoke: "Rectum?, dam near killed him!"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Daddy: "Eewwww!!"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
McPoop: "QUOTE: Rose Young-Stewart: "Staples don't stay in for 17 days." I still have staples in my gut from a surgery, 20 years ago. They are stainless steal and were used to basically keep my small bowel in place after a complete colonectomy. These cause me no problems but they show up in X-rays."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
common sense: "Wouldn't it make sense regardless of prior surgery to seek help after at the very most 4 or 5 days of being in this condition? Seems like a phone call to the doctor would be more logical than waiting for a lawyer"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
joemun: "The headline is misleading...The stapler used in this procedures (Johnson's & Johnson's CDH 33)can't do that...Probably was a stenosis (stricture) in the area of anastomosis between rectum and colon..."POSTED Sep 29, 2008
chm: "just some poor guy trying to get some free money"POSTED Sep 29, 2008
Kareem: "17 days? wtf is he dumb to keep the staple that long? IT WAS HIS ANUS, im frustrated in the stupidity of people sometimes"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
smalls4000: "oo my god look a hole lets fix that"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
smalls4000: "oo my god look a hole lets fix that"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
the punisher: "that reaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy has to suck a** ha get it........ dont worry he,ll get his :)"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
the punisher: "that reaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy has to suck a** ha get it........ dont worry he,ll get his :)"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
Fez The Travel Monkey: "Do these staples make my rectum look fat?"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
Fez The Travel Monkey: "Do these staples make my rectum look fat?"POSTED Sep 30, 2008
BONG LEACH: "POSTED Sep 30, 2008
Sharon D.: "It is sad that these type of mistakes happen as well as others. We as patients go into hospitals looking for help and sometimes get hurt and then DOCTORS stand behind a bunch of lawyers and try to blame everyone but themselves. So heres to having to go to HOSPITAL be careful and pray that nothing like this or simular happens to you."POSTED Oct 3, 2008
: "Something doesn't smell right here?"POSTED Oct 6, 2008
Murphy: "Sucks to be him!"POSTED Oct 7, 2008
Jeff: "Here is a disturbing medical story to read with your morning coffee. Enjoy. C."POSTED Oct 7, 2008
Jeff: "Here is a disturbing medical story to read with your morning coffee. Enjoy. C."POSTED Oct 7, 2008
Feldgus: "Here is a disturbing medical story to read with your morning coffee. Enjoy. Garvey"POSTED Oct 7, 2008
Feldgus: "Here is a disturbing medical story to read with your morning coffee. Enjoy. Garvey"POSTED Oct 7, 2008
$helton: ""Wow this is unbelieveable!!! This guy should recieve some money, I mean 17 days w/o pooping!!!! That had to be really uncomfortable, so let that Doctor feel that same pain, when this guy empty's half of his account!!!!"POSTED Oct 9, 2008
jen: "well, i can believe that a doctor IS indeed this stupid!!! when my father went in for surgery on a tumor in his abdomen then surgeon didn't re-attatch a blood vessel which made him almost bleed out ... it's hard to believe people like these actually get a medical degree!"POSTED Oct 10, 2008
bigstate: "dam-dam-dam 'o' this is beyond a mistake--this is redicolous....help this man someone"POSTED Oct 13, 2008
Been There Done That: "The majority of the comments posted on this has been about ONE thing! The 14 days span!! Why don't all of you go back and re-read the story again. No where does it say that he waited the 17 days BEFORE filing suit, it simply states it "caused him". The very FIRST paragraph plainly states this. To quote Paul Harvey's famous last line, go back and read "The rest of the story". What about the other 4 surgeries the man had to go through due to that so-called Dr??? Dr's think they are God to start with and personally, I hope the guy sues that QUACK for every dime he can get!!! He deserves the money because of what he had to endure AFTER one Dr got finished with him. So rather than belabor on ONE statement, think of what he's going thru now and will have to continue to go thru. But I doubt any of you can do this considering it's obvious that your brain is the size of a pea!"POSTED Oct 15, 2008
sue: "Seriously? How does that happen? We always hear of ridicious lawsuits, butt if I were on the jury I'd award the man whatever amount he wanted. How crazy this has not settled."POSTED Oct 24, 2008
yoyo: "im gonna kill your kids and wear there skins"