PHILADELPHIA - The Crescenz Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) at 3900 Woodland Avenue in Philadelphia is facing a civil lawsuit from a North Wales man who says negligence from the hospital staff resulted in the amputation of both his legs.
According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania on Feb. 18, Louis Sklarz visited the VAMC Emergency Department in May 2019 for extreme foot pain. Sklarz was treated by Dr. Eric Farabaugh, who allegedly discharged the plaintiff without removing a 14mm metallic foreign body that was embedded in Sklarz's foot and found via x-ray while he was under Dr. Farabaugh's care.
Sklarz followed up with his primary care physician as instructed by the emergency room physician, Dr. Cecilia Roman, who the suit says also did not address the item in Sklarz's foot and refused to prescribe stronger pain management than Tylenol.
On May 22, nine days after the plaintiff's ED visit, Sklarz went instead to a podiatrist, Dr. Susan Gamble, who found the foot with the object to be extremely swollen with an infected abscess where the object was lodged, the suit says. Diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, Sklarz's left leg was amputated below the leg, the suit says.
The plaintiff was transferred back to the VAMC, where the suit says medical staff wrapped his right leg too tight with bandages, causing an existing ulcer to worsen, and Sklarz's right leg was also amputated below the knee, the suit says.
Sklarz is seeking damages for medical expenses, disfigurement, economic losses and losses of life's pleasures. He has fled one count of negligent against VAMC and one count of corporate negligence. He is represented by Shanin Specter of Kline and Specter, PC, of Philadelphia.