A Superior Court jury in Worcester County, Massachusetts has awarded a New Jersey man over $809,000 in damages and interest after he lost a testicle due to an emergency room doctor's failure to correctly diagnose his testicular torsion, according to court records.
Dr. Mohsen Noreldin was ordered to make a payment of $500,000 in damages, to which over $309,000 in interest was added, said court records. The legal battle lasted five years and concluded with a four-day trial that ended on Tuesday, March 11.
The plaintiff, 14-years-old at the time, was transported to Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Massachusetts on March 13, 2001 with complaints of pain in his abdomen and groin. According to his lawyer, he was initially diagnosed by the doctor with appendicitis.
Later, a surgeon ruled out appendicitis as causing the boy's pain. After further testing, the boy was diagnosed by the E.R. doctor with a testicular inflation from an infection, according to James McCarthy, the man's attorney.
McCarthy said that his client was in fact suffering from testicular torsion, a condition in which the blood supply of a testicle is cut off by a spermatic cord twisting around it inside the scrotum. He said that if it is discovered and corrected within six to 12 hours, the testicle can usually be saved.
McCarthy said that two days after being sent home from the hospital, the young man's testicle turned black and had to be removed. McCarthy would not identify his client, who is now a 21-year-old New Jersey native, by name.