Original Blog Entry: Doctors Left Knife In Woman's Head

truesee — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:04:22 GMT

McQueen Was Victim Of Stabbing Incident In 2005

CNN

UPDATED: 10:42 am EST January 7, 2009

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Jacksonville woman plans to sue Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center after she said part of a knife was left behind in her head, local television station WJXT reported.

A good look at an X-ray of Edith McQueen's head reveals an object next to the her jaw bone. That object, according to the woman's attorney, is a piece of a knife from an attack that took place more than three years ago.

Somehow, some way, the knife was left in her head. She presented to the emergency room for treatment from the stab wounds to the head, and they were simply stitched up and Mrs. McQueen was sent home, said McQueen's attorney, Chad Roberts.

In August of 2005, McQueen was stabbed twice from behind in a random act of violence. According to her discharge papers from the hospital, the woman was treated and released the next day after the stab wound was cleaned and sutured loosely and she was listed in stable but good condition.

A simple X-ray is comparatively easy, inexpensive and accessible, and you would think that a stab wound would probably justify a $25 or $50 X-ray to make sure no foreign body, either dirt or gravel or some foreign object, remained in the wound site, but apparently that didn't happen, Roberts said.

Roberts said his client ended up going back to Shands because she complained of headaches and was scheduled to have an MRI. That's when they made the discovery through an X-ray that the blade was still inside her head.

Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center released a statement saying, We will not discuss the particulars of any patient's confidential healthcare services.

Shands said it did not know about the lawsuit until the media contacted them on Tuesday.

Roberts said his client's lawsuit is still in the investigative phase and has yet to be filed. He said he hasn't talked to Shands about removing the blade, but he hopes they will plan to do so.

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