4-year-old accidentally gets partial vasectomy during hernia surgery, Texas lawsuit says
A 4-year-old boy went into surgery to get a hernia in his groin region repaired, but his family says the Texas doctor unintentionally gave him a partial vasectomy.
Now the young child may face lifelong fertility issues.
His parents filed a lawsuit in Harris County District Court on June 7 against Texas Children’s Hospital and Dr. Susan L. Jarosz, claiming medical negligence. McClatchy News is not naming the parents to protect their son’s identity. The boy is identified as R.B. in the lawsuit.
“The family hopes that by bringing this lawsuit, changes in TCH procedures will be instituted and justice will be brought to this four-year-old,” Houston attorneys Randy Sorrels and Tom Omondi said in a news release.
The legal team representing the Texas family says the 4-year-old boy had been complaining about “right sided scrotal swelling with no redness or pain.”
“The swelling would come and go,” the lawsuit says, “and would be less in the mornings and increase in the evenings.”
Jarosz, a doctor in pediatric urology, suggested a right inguinal hernia repair following a consultation, according to court records. She performed the boy’s surgery alongside a resident on Aug. 4, 2021.
“After the operation, the hernia sac was sent to pathology,” the lawsuit said. “The pathology report noted tissue from the vas deferens included in the hernia sac specimen: an unintended vasectomy.”
The family’s attorneys say the doctor cut the vas deferens — “the tube that carries the sperm out of the testes” — during surgery.
“Texas Children’s Hospital’s top priority is the health and well-being of our patients,” the center said in a statement to McClatchy News. “Due to patient privacy requirements, we are unable to comment.”
Jarosz is still listed as an employee of the medical center.
“Dr. Jarosz and the risk management staff at Texas Children’s Hospital advised the (parents) of this incident and the possible short- and long-term consequences of this injury which included reduced fertility,” according to the news release. “While apologies were given, (full) accountability was not accepted. The parents now face the difficult task of explaining this to their son at the appropriate age.”
The medical team recommended informing the child, when he is older, that the vasectomy “could have an adverse effect on natural conception,” according to the lawsuit.
“Having what is essentially an unintended vasectomy at the age of 4 years old is an unacceptable outcome when a patient goes in for a hernia repair surgery,” attorneys said in the lawsuit. “Moreover, the emotional and psychological effects of living with this knowledge is unfathomable - firstly for the parents and then for R.B. himself.”
The legal team believes this surgery will be a “steady background noise” for the family.
“R.B., once he’s old enough to know about what happened and can process and accept it for himself, will be required to have this conversation with any future serious partners,” the lawsuit says. “There is a possibility that he may have to utilize assisted reproduction services to conceive. These are all considerations that the typical 4-year-old does not have.”
In the lawsuit, attorneys argue medical negligence occurred throughout the surgery, including by “failing to properly position and separate the hernia sac from the vas deferens before removing it surgically.”
The plaintiffs seek over $250,000, and no more than $1 million, to help cover future medical expenses, pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment and fertility treatment.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 9:18 AM with the headline "4-year-old accidentally gets partial vasectomy during hernia surgery, Texas lawsuit says."