CLAYTON, Mo. — A Missouri woman who has lived with a
hypodermic needle lodged in her back for nearly seven years has been awarded a
$507,000 judgment in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports
that a St. Louis County jury last week sided with Claudia Ball after a four-day
trial.
In 2011, Ball sued Dr. Catherine Doty and the Allied
Physicians Group LLC, which ran the now-closed Breakthrough Pain Relief Clinic
in Chesterfield.
Ball accused the doctor of negligence for embedding an
inch-and-a-half needle in her back during a 2009 injection treatment for
bulging and degenerative discs.
Ball’s lawyer says efforts to extract the needle have
failed.
Ryan Gavin, an attorney for Doty and Allied Physicians
Group, said his clients are disappointed in the verdict and plan to appeal.