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December 15, 2006
Albany - - An Albany woman has been awarded five million dollars in a medical malpractice lawsuit. She sued Albany gynecologist, William Sewell over a surgical procedure he performed in 1998.
A Dougherty County State Court jury returned a verdict in her favor Thursday, but the doctor's lawyers are appealing the hefty verdict.
Six years ago, 27 year old Benita Davis Parker went to her gynecologist Dr. William Sewell, for a tubal ligation. That's a procedure to have her ovarian tubes tied to prevent pregnancy. But the discovery of two large ovarian cysts complicated things and, she says nearly cost her life.
Benita Parker claims that when Dr. William Sewell removed two large ovarian cysts, they ruptured. She says material left in her body from those ruptured cysts led to serious infection that, just two months later, led to a hysterectomy and the removal of more than three feet of her large intestine.
Her lawyer says Parker's endured years of suffering.
"Ms. Parker felt vindicated after so long a time. Matters do take a long time, but she finally received a verdict in her favor and we feel it was a just verdict," says Attorney Carl Reynolds.
But not so fast, says Dr. Sewell's attorney. Attorney Dawn Benson tells us she plans to appeal the verdict.
She says Sewell properly removed the cysts, but says Parker had a rare and unforeseeable complication, which inflamed her pelvis. Benson claims the inflammation was a result of Parker's genes and not from infection from the ruptured cysts.
Parker's attorney's feel an appeal won't work. They say the evidence will stand.
"That has to be the basis of an appeal is that there's some error made by the court and I think the record will speak for itself in this case. I think it's a very clean record," Reynolds says.
Benita Parker did not want to appear on camera, nor did she make a statement.
Dr. William Sewell has practiced with OB-GYN Associates of Albany since 1996.
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