Widow accuses U.S. government of medical malpractice

A Cameron County widow filed suit against the United States, alleging medical malpractice in a surgical procedure performed in 2013 on her late husband.

Evalicia Perez-Alvarez of Harlingen, surviving wife of Otto Alvarez Jr., filed a lawsuit Feb. 17 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas against the U.S.A., citing negligence.

According to the complaint, Otto Alvarez Jr. had post-chemotherapy lymph node dissection as part of his treatment for testicular cancer on Jan. 24, 2013, but the U.S. was negligent in placing a suture in the patient’s left renal artery during surgery. Alvarez should have been transferred to a comprehensive cancer center for his treatment, the suit states, and had he received a higher caliber of care, he might not have suffered complications and died. The suit says the doctors in the case were agents or employees of the United States.

Perez-Alvarez seeks $5 million in compensation for loss of earning capacity and anguish, attorney fees, expenses and costs. She is represented by attorney Jay Winckler of Winckler & Harvey in Austin.

Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number: 4:15-CV-00436.