Opening arguments made in surgery case

There is no question that Vietnam veteran David Poirier was the victim of negligence when a surgeon at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Togus left a 6-inch-long, scissor-like clamp in him during surgery on his stomach.

The issue is whether the procedure itself was done properly and whether it led to six other surgical procedures later performed on the Biddeford man, according to attorneys arguing the case Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Poirier and his wife, Margo, are suing the federal government for $1.5 million in damages, claiming negligence, pain, and mental anguish. The case is being heard in a non-jury trial before U.S. Senior Judge Martin Loughlin, a visiting judge from the District of New Hampshire.

In his opening argument, attorney Bernard Kubetz of Bangor, representing the plaintiff, held up an X-ray of Poirier that clearly showed the clamp left in his abdomen after the February 1986 surgery.

“The procedure was done improperly,” said Kubetz, and subsequently caused the other medical problems “which have followed David since that time.” As a result, Poirier lost “significant work capacity,” and “the quality of his life has substantially deteriorated,” said Kubetz.

“The fact that a clamp was left in David Poirier’s abdomen … is indefensible, unmitigated negligence,” agreed Michael DuBose, assistant U.S. attorney. “No excuses will be presented to this court.”

Poirier, who had “more than his share of life’s tragedies,” deserved to be “fully and fairly compensated” for his suffering as a result of the operation, said DuBose. But “none of these later problems, as unfortunate as they were, were directly caused or made more possible” by the negligent surgery.

Both attorneys said they intended to present medical experts to testify on their own behalf. The trial is expected to continue for three days.

Poirier, 41, took the witness stand and described how he lost his left leg in Vietnam after stepping on a land mine. He said he got work as a carpenter and later as a prosthetic technician with a Portland company after recuperating from his injury.

The plaintiff had stomach surgery at Togus in February 1986 after experiencing digestive problems, he said. Poirier said his recovery was “painful and kinda rough,” but the day before he was expected to be discharged, “the pain was really bad” and he began “crying and screaming and curled up in a ball.”

An X-ray revealed the clamp, and Poirer had emergency surgery in which part of his bowel was removed. His recovery was difficult, he said. “I became a couch potato … there was just too much pain,” he said.

The surgery failed to relieve his digestive problems, and another procedure was performed in September at a private hospital. Poirier told of undergoing five more different procedures that left him increasingly debilitated and unable to work.

Dr. John T. Dinan Jr., the surgeon who performed the first surgery, also took the witness stand. Dinan, who was in private practice for 16 years, said he had joined the VA hospital only about five weeks before he performed the operation.