Man Suing Surgeon For Amputating Penis Without Permission Loses Court Battle
Aug. 24 2011, Published 8:45 a.m. ET
A Kentucky man who sued a surgeon for amputating his penis without permission during a routine operation has lost his battle in court, RadarOnline.com has learned.
A jury in Shelby County, Kentucky, unanimously agreed on Wednesday that Dr. John Patterson exercised appropriate care when he removed a portion of Phillip Seaton's penis in October 2007 during a routine circumcision operation to treat inflammation, reported ABCNews.com.
The verdict appears to be influenced by the fact that Seaton, a truck driver who can not read or write, signed a consent form for a routine circumcision.
Within the signed forms, a disclaimer included language that recognized Patterson's right to perform any further surgery he deemed necessary if unforeseen conditions arose, explained Dr. Patterson's attorney, Clay Robinson.
"We feel the interest of justice has been served," Robinson told ABC News. "When you hear about someone going in for a circumcision and it turned into a partial amputation, there's going to be a reaction, but it was a pretty clear-cut case. There was no liability here."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Seaton, 64, and his wife, Deborah, were seeking damages for "loss of service, love and affection," against the surgeon, who performed the operation at Louisville's Jewish Hospital.
Robinson told the court on Monday that his client had no other option but to remove the penis as it was riddled with deadly cancer and the tip looked like it "had the appearance of a rotten cauliflower."
The defense attorney also told the jury that Patterson only removed about an inch of the penis during the initial surgery before another surgeon removed the rest of his penis at a later date.
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