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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Man sues GW Hospital alleging medical malpractice in 2016

In+recent+weeks%2C+discussions+about+the+GW+Hospitals+plans+to+open+a+new+hospital+in+Southeast+D.C.+have+reached+a+boiling+point.
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In recent weeks, discussions about the GW Hospital’s plans to open a new hospital in Southeast D.C. have reached a boiling point.

A man suing GW Hospital alleges that a nurse improperly removed a catheter after he was treated for an aneurysm in 2016, according to court documents.

In a six-page claim filed in the D.C. Superior Court on Aug. 19, Robert Marzban alleges that a nurse did not fully remove a catheter before discharging him from the hospital in 2016. Marzban is requesting $2 million for medical malpractice, claiming that he missed work and physically suffered because of the dislodged catheter, and the GW Hospital “breached the professional standard of care” while treating him.

Physicians and medical staff at the hospital treated Marzban for an aneurysm in late July 2016 and discharged him three days later, according to the complaint. Marzban returned to the hospital in August 2016 after he experienced “difficulty eating, difficulty maintaining nutrition and dehydration,” the lawsuit states.

Hospital doctors and staff then treated Marzban for another six days, which included the insertion of a catheter into Marzban’s body, according to the complaint. When the nurse removed his catheter, a portion of the device remained “negligently, carelessly and recklessly” inside Marzban’s body, the complaint states.

After GW Hospital employees discharged Marzban a second time, he returned to the hospital with complaints of “abdominal pain, discomfort and related symptoms,” according to the complaint.

Hospital staff diagnosed Marzban with impacted bowels and discharged him from the hospital. But when Marzban went to the Virginia Hospital Center for treatment the following day, doctors found a piece of the catheter in his body, according to court documents.

“The portion of the PICC line that remained inside of Dr. Marzban’s body traveled through his heart and eventually became lodged in his abdomen,” the complaint states.

Marzban’s lawyers and a GW Hospital spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

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