Mr. Bates: Medical Malpractice

Question on screen: Mr Bates, a victim of a surgical error, tells his Medical Malpractice story.

Mr. Bates: It came up all the sudden, my stomach started hurting real bad and I went to the doctor and I come to find out I had pancreatic cancer.

Question on screen: What went wrong during your surgery?

Mr. Bates: They went in to cut some of my pancreas out. In the meantime, while they were in there they had left a tissue in me, a towel more or less, a hand towel on my left side, and sewed me back up and they had to go back in and reopen me back up and take it out.

Question on screen: What type of complications did you suffer from after the surgery?

Mr. Bates: They stopped up everything. I had a bag on my side that was draining and it stopped up everything and I started getting real weak and I was more or less shut down because it was deteriorating and it was getting, more or less spreading, all over my stomach. And then they went in to take the towel out and they took my appendix out trying to saying that my appendix had cancer on it and I think that was just a cover up because of the towel, but I kept saying give me the x-ray, give me the x-ray and they never would.

Question on screen: Why did other law firms decline your case?

Mr. Bates: I called maybe three and then they asked me what happened and I told them they said “well that’s a little bit too big for us” and I called you after I got out a couple weeks later.

Question on screen: What advice would you give to victims of medical negligence?

Mr. Bates: The situation being what it is I would tell them to go in and get it done and check with Mr. Gary Massey. He’ll set you straight.