BRIDGEPORT — A Monroe couple is suing medical providers over a 2023 operation in which they say an implant for a right knee was placed in the husband’s left knee, with effects that include pain, impaired range of motion, snapping of the knee joint and inflammation.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed Dec. 27 in state Superior Court in Bridgeport, are Michael and Diane Zavaglio.
The defendants are SVMC Holdings, the operator of St. Vincent’s Medical Center, where the surgery was performed on Dec. 19, 2023, Dr. Jenna A. Bernstein, who performed the surgery, and two medical groups she and others involved in the surgery are associated with.
The medical groups are Connecticut Orthopaedic Specialists, P.C. and Hartford HealthCare Medical Group Inc.
Hartford HealthCare spokesperson Tina Varona said via email, “We are unable to provide comment on pending litigation.”
A woman answering the phone the number listed for Bernstein at Connecticut Orthopaedics said they “cannot comment at this time,” and emails to lawyers representing Bernstein and the orthopaedic group did not bring immediate responses.
According to the complaint in the suit, filed by lawyer Jeffrey Wisner of Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, “there is no likely fix” for the medical error.
“A surgical correction, which requires anesthesia, poses unacceptable health risks to Michael, who manages the central nervous system disease, multiple sclerosis,” the complaint says.
His injuries, including pain, snapping of the knee joint and limited range of motion, “most likely will persist for life,” the complaint says.
“Remarkably, not one of at least six individuals in the operating room that day identified the safety lapse or implant error: Michael was discharged to home the next day to ambulate with two right knees,” the complaint says.
Michael Zavaglio was informed of the error the day after the surgery, according to a letter from a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who reviewed the case for Zavaglio’s lawyers in accordance with a state law requiring medical malpractice lawsuits to be accompanied by anonymous opinion letters from similar providers.
The complaint says the defendants falsely documented that they had verified that the implant was for the left knee.
Among SVMC Holdings' failures to exercise reasonable care, the suit alleges, is that it “improperly permitted the use of pre-populated electronic medical record templates that documented care not rendered.”