A Texas inmate is suing a medical branch, a hospital and surgeons, alleging a defective medical product caused an infection that led to the loss of his right testicle.
Gus A. Mendizabal filed a lawsuit Sept. 1 in Galveston County District Court against the University of Texas Medical Branch, John Sealy Hospital and unknown surgeons, alleging a defective medical product.
According to the complaint, in June 2008, while the plaintiff was a prisoner in the Texas Department of Corrections, he suffered a groin hernia for which the defendants used a defective medical product, keyhole mesh, to repair the injury. The suit says while the plaintiff was on parole in September 2013, doctors at DeBakey Medical Center in Houston discovered an infection he had for almost a year was caused by the defective keyhole mesh.
On Sept. 17, 2013, the lawsuit states, Mendizabal had surgery to remove the mesh at DeBakey Medical Center, when doctors discovered the mesh had broken down and was wrapped around many of his arteries. Vascular surgeons cut away and removed the mesh but, during surgery, blood flow to the plaintiff's right testicle was cut off and he subsequently lost his right testicle, the suit says.
Mendizabal, currently incarcerated at the Pack I Unit in Navasota, seeks a judgment of $250,000. He is representing himself in this case.
Galveston County District Court case number 15-cv-0919.