Jury finds urologist not responsible for patient's 8-month erection post-surgery
A man who claimed his 8-month long erection was due to his urologist's improper care will not be receiving financial compensation for pain and suffering.
The News Journal of Wilmington in Del. reported that the New Castle County Superior Court jury found urologist Dr. Thomas Desperito was not medically negligent when his patient Daniel Metzgar, had post-surgery complications that lead to an 8-month erection.
Desperito put a penile implant in Metzgar, a 44-year-old Hoboken, N.J. truck driver, in December 2009.
During the trial, Metzgar testified that he had the device put in to improve his love lifeafter diabetes left him with erectile dysfunction. However, he said his testicles swelled up to the size of a volleyball shortly after he had the surgery done.
He reportedly only went back to the doctor in April 2010, and Metzgar claimed that Desperito wanted $10,000 before he went in and fixed the problem. But because Metzgar lost his insurance, he couldn't pay the large sum, he said.
Desperito's lawyers said that complications are a risk with any surgery, and money would not have been a factor in providing follow-up treatment. In addition, Metzgar should have known something was wrong and come in sooner, they said.
Meanwhile, Metzgar said he became withdrawn, had to wear baggy clothes, and could not ride his motorcycle or bend over to pick up the newspaper. His 18-year-old stepson said the relationship between him and Metzgar grew distant because he was "highly embarrassed" about the situation. Metzgar's wife added that he was teased and taunted by family members because of his enlarged prostate and erection.
Metzgar had the device removed in August 2010, when tubing from the prosthesis poked out of his scrotum during a family trip. He has had the device replaced by a different doctor.
