In 2009, Rolanda Dickerson went to Forest Park Medical Center for a tummy tuck. Instead, according to a lawsuit first reported by Courthouse News, Dr. John Alexander gave her a gastric bypass.
That was a problem both because the procedure wasn't what she had agreed to and because Dickerson had received a gastric bypass three years before. Complications ensued, prompting Dickerson to go to Alexander for a second operation in 2010, at which point she says things only got worse, with "painful, disruptive digestive issues and other medical issues on a nearly weekly basis" and several hospitalizations according to Dickerson's suit again Alexander and Forest Park. Then there's the kicker:
As a further result of the procedure ... Rolanda Dickerson is unable to eat food and drink liquids in the normal way. Instead, she has had to have a port installed in her abdomen. The port is attached by tubing to a backpack that she must carry with her at all times. The backpack is a pump/controller/battery assembly and two bottles: one contains water and the other contains liquefied nutrients (with a baby food-like consistency). A pump in the back periodically dispenses "food" and water into Rolanda's abdomen for digestion.
The suit alleges that Alexander and Forest Park's negligence caused pain and mental anguish, ongoing medical expenses, and lost wages for which she s requesting compensation. I have a call into Alexander for a response. For now, we'll turn to the clinic's website: "At Forest Park Medical Center, extraordinary is all we do."
