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Cancer patient sues doctors who removed genitals (Penis)- DID NOT HAVE CANCER!
Associated Press ^ | 08/07/03 | Staff Writer

Posted on 08/07/2003 1:38:58 PM PDT by bedolido

WICHITA FALLS -- A mechanic is suing a clinic and two doctors, claiming they removed his penis and testicles without consulting him after they mistakenly thought he had cancer.

Hurshell Ralls, 67, seeks an unspecified amount in his negligence lawsuit filed against the Clinics of North Texas in Wichita Falls, Dr. John Stephen Dryden and Dr. Farid G. Khoury. The civil case is set for trial Aug. 25.

Ralls, who said he had a normal sex life with his wife before the 1999 amputation, said he remains angry with his doctors.

"I don't think they should have played God, myself," Ralls said Wednesday.

The clinic and doctors declined to comment.

Ralls said Dryden started treating him 15 years ago for kidney infections caused by lifelong bladder problems. Since he was in his mid-20s, Ralls said, he has urinated into a bag through a catheter attached to his ureters, the tubes carrying urine from the kidneys to the bladder.

Ralls said he went in for surgery in November 1999 after Dryden said a biopsy showed he had bladder cancer. Dryden and Khoury, who assisted in the surgery, never mentioned that the cancer could be spreading and that they might have to remove other organs, Ralls said.

In a February deposition, Dryden told Ralls' attorneys that while removing Ralls' bladder, he determined the cancer had spread to the penis.

"I was the one looking at it, and I've seen it. I mean, it was cancer," Dryden testified.

He said he did not take tissue samples to test for cancer because "I did not feel, in my medical judgment, that they were worthwhile."

Steve Briley, Ralls' attorney, said tests could have been done in 30 minutes in the same clinic.

Briley said a doctor looking at cell slides later found Ralls did not have penile cancer.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: consulting; mechanic; suing
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To: wimpycat
.
21 posted on 08/07/2003 1:56:48 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine (Killing FR and driving away the base since 2000......)
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To: bedolido
Mayor: Is this true?
Venkman: Yes sir, it's true. This man has no d*ck.
22 posted on 08/07/2003 1:59:42 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: VRWCmember
So now is he living a "pointless" life?
23 posted on 08/07/2003 2:02:41 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter
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To: gov_bean_ counter
So now is he living a "pointless" life?

At least one without his special purpose.

24 posted on 08/07/2003 2:04:40 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: VRWCmember
guess he could get a strap-on
25 posted on 08/07/2003 2:06:05 PM PDT by bedolido (None of us is as dumb as all of us!)
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To: bedolido
guess he could get a strap-on

Does Trent Lott have a spare one he could loan out? Lord knows the senate gop hasn't used a real one in years.

26 posted on 08/07/2003 2:08:05 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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To: VRWCmember
maybe he could get in touch (so to speak) with these doctors for help...'
27 posted on 08/07/2003 2:20:54 PM PDT by bedolido (None of us is as dumb as all of us!)
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To: bedolido
Always ask for second opinion!!!
28 posted on 08/07/2003 2:43:47 PM PDT by PALACE ATHENA
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To: bedolido
the A.M move this to Gen Int... NOT FAIR!!!

Welcome to cheesville.

29 posted on 08/07/2003 2:58:32 PM PDT by NeoCaveman (Molon Labe)
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Looks like there's still insurance to compensate this injured patient--Texas recently passed tort reform. By shepherding this resource, I hope that the state will keep coverage alive for the injured. That's what the insurance system is for.

But the lawyers won't be getting a windfall in the non-econ department with this suit. It's the lawyers who have lost--not the patients of Texas...

30 posted on 08/07/2003 3:51:55 PM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: bedolido
How ironic, he is suing for not consulting him. Let's see..last time I took my car to a mechanic I wasn't consulted either about certain repairs. What goes around...
31 posted on 08/07/2003 4:29:32 PM PDT by PALACE ATHENA
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To: Mamzelle
Why hell, its not like theres any economic loss associated with a severed unit. Why should this bloodsucker try to collect for missing his penis?
32 posted on 08/07/2003 8:58:27 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine (Killing FR and driving away the base since 2000......)
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
For one thing, the pain and suffering has not been eliminated, only limited. If he sued without his lawyers, he could keep the whole $350,000--but, unfortunately, he's got a lawyer.

You seem to take a lot of notice of genital cases. The premise being--there's not enough money out there to compensate for this man's loss. Ergo, the sky's the limit? Quantifying this sort of loss is impossible, but I remain to assert that the best possible outcome is to keep the insurance alive for injured patients, rather than provide capricious, emotion-driven bonanzas that will kill insurance for all injured patients.

I've just endured a long conversation with a lawyer who wouldn't address what I regard as the most important issue in the malpractice debate--won't you please give it a whirl?

What would happen to this guy if there would have been no insurance at all? This is no chimera--I can point you to a new trend emerging in "going bare."

Would you have taken his case if there had been no insurance, and you had reason to believe that efforts had been made to make assets very hard to obtain?

Lawyers who care about the little guy ought to steward the insurance, plain and simple. And even if they only care about their hefty share of the settlement, they still ought to steward the insurance.

33 posted on 08/08/2003 5:36:02 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: mhking
Ping

34 posted on 08/08/2003 6:15:29 AM PDT by bedolido (None of us is as dumb as all of us!)
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To: Howlin; Ed_NYC; MonroeDNA; widgysoft; Springman; Timesink; dubyaismypresident; Grani; coug97; ...
Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

35 posted on 08/08/2003 6:26:39 AM PDT by mhking
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To: bedolido
I would say that the doctor went of half-cocked... That'd be about half too much, though.
36 posted on 08/08/2003 6:59:20 AM PDT by wysiwyg (What parts of "right of the people" and "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?)
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To: wysiwyg
lol... There was a song in the late 70's or early 80's called "Short People (have no reason to live)"
37 posted on 08/08/2003 7:00:41 AM PDT by bedolido (None of us is as dumb as all of us!)
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To: wysiwyg
Doh! of=off
38 posted on 08/08/2003 7:00:42 AM PDT by wysiwyg (What parts of "right of the people" and "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?)
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To: bedolido
That would be Randy Newman's Short People.
39 posted on 08/08/2003 7:02:28 AM PDT by wysiwyg (What parts of "right of the people" and "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?)
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To: VRWCmember
They took my dork, Charlie!
40 posted on 08/08/2003 7:44:44 AM PDT by wysiwyg (What parts of "right of the people" and "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?)
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