A hospital in Charleston, W.Va., is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging “unnecessary and invasive” hernia surgeries during robotic bariatric procedures, the West Virginia Record reported May 23.
The lawsuit was filed against Charleston Area Medical Center — part of Charleston, W.Va.-based Vandalia Health — and two surgeons who formerly worked at the hospital. The physicians, Robert Shin, MD, and Samuel Rossi, MD, are accused of regularly performing concurrent hernia surgeries without medical basis and without including them on operative reports.
Both surgeons were reportedly fired for these actions, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses the physicians of medical negligence and CAMC of vicarious liability.
The law firm representing the plaintiffs said some patients received letters from CAMC “notifying them that the paraesophageal hernia repair procedure they received ‘may not have been medically necessary.'”
The letter states neither patients or their insurance companies will be charged for hernia repair surgeries, and if they have been charged, those will be reversed.
A CAMC spokesperson told Becker’s the hospital does not comment on pending litigation.
