Man's lawsuit claims stripper ruptured his bladder
A man is suing a strip club after one of the strippers allegedly ruptured his bladder when she slid down the stripper pole, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court last week, Patrick Gallagher of Lansdale was celebrating his bachelor party in late November 2010 at the Penthouse Club in Port Richmond, Pa. His friends had purchased the "bachelor package," which includes the opportunity to go on stage with the strippers.
Gallagher was invited on stage and told to lie down below the stripper pole. Then, a stripper slid down and landed on top of him so hard that he said his bladder ruptured.
"From a great height, she launched herself down onto his abdomen," his attorney, Neil T. Murray, told the Inquirer.
Gallagher and his friends left the club because he was in such pain. The next morning, he went to the hospital. Doctors notified him that he had to have surgery on his bladder, and that he had nerve damage in his back and hip.
He is seeking at least $50,000 for medical costs, pain, humiliation and mental anguish.
Nearly 82 percent of bladder rupture cases are caused by external trauma, Medscape reports.
This isn't the first time someone has sued for injuries caused by a stripper pole. A Manhattan woman who was taking strip aerobics classes at Crunch Gym sued after she says her instructor left her dangling on top of the pole, the New York Daily News reported. She fell, causing injuries that prevented her from working for six months.
It also isn't the first time someone sued after being injured by a stripper. The Palm Beach Post reported that a Cheetah's customer in West Palm Beach sued the club after a stripper hit him in the eye with her heel, breaking bones in his face and injuring his eye. As a result, he has had permanent double vision, interfering with his job as a roofer. The case was settled for $650,000 in October 2010.
