On Jan. 9, 2003, plaintiff Drenda Douglas, 40, an office manager/paralegal, underwent an exploratory laparotomy performed by Dr. Lucien Cox, her OB-GYN, at California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles. Douglas previously suffered from constant adhesions resulting from two Caesarean sections and hysterectomies. Cox, who previously performed five surgeries on Douglas, subsequently recommended the laparotomy, claiming that it would cut down the adhesions from prior surgeries, and that he would place Gore-Tex mesh in her abdomen during the procedure to prevent future adhesions. In October 2010, over seven years after the laparotomy, Douglas began experiencing epigastric pain and presented to a different treating physician since she no longer treated with Cox due to a change in insurance coverage. A CT scan was subsequently performed, which identified a foreign body encapsulated in scar tissue in Douglas’ lower abdomen/pelvis. The CT scan report was then sent to Dr. Greg Tsushima, a general surgeon, who decided to remove the foreign body. On Dec. 15, 2010, Tsushima performed a laparoscopy on Douglas and removed the foreign body. Douglas sued Cox and the operator of California Hospital Medical Center, Catholic Healthcare West. She alleged that the defendants failed to properly perform the 2003 laparotomy and that this failure constituted medical malpractice. Douglas claimed that during the 2003 laparotomy, Cox negligently left a foreign body inside her, which could have been a retained surgical sponge. She also claimed the nurses during that procedure failed to do a proper sponge count, resulting in the foreign object being retained until it was removed during the 2010 laparoscopy. Douglas further claimed that Cox never inserted the Gore-Tex mesh during the 2003 surgery and that in the event Cox did surgically implant the Gore-Tex mesh, he put it in the wrong place, since it should have been placed over the vaginal cuff. Defense counsel argued that the foreign object removed from Douglas in 2010 was not a retained surgical sponge, but rather the Gore-Tex mesh placed in 2003. Counsel contended that the mesh became encapsulated in scar tissue due to Douglas’ adhesion-building condition, and that the mesh then moved within patient’s body. Defense counsel also contended that Cox’s Operative Report noted what (the Gore-Tex mesh) he placed in Douglas and where, and that the nursing staff’s Intraoperative Report documented the placement of Gore-Tex mesh. Defense counsel further argued that all surgical sponges have radiopaque tracers inserted in them so as to identify them on diagnostic testing, and that a CT scan of Douglas five days after the 2003 laparotomy detected no radiopaque tracers. In addition, counsel contended that the 2010 CT scan of Douglas only revealed the encapsulated Gore-Tex mesh, and no radiopaque tracers., Douglas complained of epigastric pain in October 2010 and subsequently underwent a laparoscopy to remove a foreign body that was found encapsulated in scar tissue in her lower abdomen/pelvis. She claimed that the foreign body was a retained sponge from the 2003 laparotomy. Plaintiff’s counsel contended that Douglas sought only an unspecified amount in past-pain-and-suffering damages at trial. However, according to defense counsel, Douglas sought additional damages at trial in excess of $46,000 for past medical costs for the allegedly negligent 2003 laparotomy, as well as recovery of other costs incurred from Cox. In addition, defense counsel claimed that the plaintiff also sought recovery of $5,000 in past loss of earnings for missing an additional month of work while recovering from the 2003 laparotomy. Defense counsel argued that the allegedly retained foreign body was Gore-Tex mesh, which became encapsulated in scar tissue due to Douglas’ adhesions issue, which the defendants could not foresee. Counsel further argued that Douglas suffered no emotional distress and actually received good therapeutic benefit from the 2003 laparotomy, and that her only subsequent symptoms were epigastric pain, presumably caused by unrelated gallstones and hip and back pain, all of which were unrelated to the surgery.