Mislabeled bottle results in horrific burns on woman's cervix

In personal injury cases, a victim has been harmed in an “accident” or as a result of a “mistake” or “error” in judgment. These labels almost seem like misnomers, because they could make the incident appear somewhat minor. For the victims of these “mistakes,” the pain and damage is anything but minor.

Take a situation that recently resulted in a lawsuit involving a young woman who went in for a colposcopy at her doctor’s office. What should have been a routine procedure quickly turned into an unbelievable nightmare because someone had mislabeled a bottle of liquid.

A colposcopy is a type of procedure that involves spraying vinegar onto a woman’s cervix. A vinegar falls on the acidic end of the pH scale, which is why it or a similar acidic liquid is used on a woman’s vagina that has healthy pH range of 3.5 to 4.5.

In this case, instead of vinegar, the bottle was filled with potassium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide is an abrasive chemical with a pH of around 12 to 14.

When the sensitive tissue was sprayed with this base, it immediately began to “burn from the inside out,” as shared by the woman’s husband. A chemistry professor said that it “decomposes the skin.”

One can only imagine the intense pain that the woman felt, but this was not the end of her ordeal. The doctor then attempted to fix the situation. He proceeded to wash the area with a saline solution and rub numbing cream on it with his bare hand. When the woman’s cervix was later examined at a hospital emergency room, doctors there found a plastic cap.

Since the episode approximately 1.5 years ago, the woman has not been able to have intercourse with her husband or go in a pool with her kids. She continues to experience intense pain and bleeding, and may even have to undergo a hysterectomy, a procedure that would sterilize her.

Mislabeling a bottle in other situations may be an innocent mistake, but where a patient is involved, checking and rechecking is imperative. Those that suffer a medical malpractice injury such as this one can seek the help of a New York attorney to hold those responsible for these accidents liable in court.

Source: USA Today, “Doctor mistakes drain cleaner for vinegar, suit says,” Tom Meyer, Nov. 12, 2013