Army vet sues VA over scalpel left in body after surgery

Credit: Faxon Law Group 

An Army veteran who says a doctor left a scalpel inside him after surgery is suing a Connecticut veterans affairs hospital.

Bridgeport resident Glenford Turner says the scalpel was only discovered years later, after he suffered from long-term abdominal pain.

He sued the VA in U.S. District Court last week, seeking unspecified compensatory damages.

The law firm representing Turner says it was a rookie surgeon who operated on the career army man and left a scalpel inside the plaintiff’s body for four years. 

Court papers say Turner had surgery at the VA hospital in West Haven in 2013. He returned to the VA almost four years later, with dizziness and severe abdominal pain.

An X-Ray showed there was a scalpel inside his body.

Turner had to undergo surgery to remove the scalpel. His lawyer says doctors confirmed it was the same one.

The lawyer calls it "an incomprehensible level of incompetence."

The VA said Monday it doesn't typically comment on pending litigation.