A colonoscopy patient is suing two doctors, claiming they defamed him and inflicted emotional distress by mocking him while he was unconscious during the procedure in April 2013.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims Dr. Tiffany Ingham, an anesthesiologist, and Dr. Soloman Shah, a gastroenterologist, made fun of him as soon as he was under the anesthesia. The plaintiff said he left his cellphone recording during the procedure so he would not forget the doctors’ instructions for post-operative care, according to the complaint.

The plaintiff is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages for defamation.

Read more about this stunning lawsuit here and here and here and here.

According to the reports on the lawsuit:

• Dr. Shah commented that a teaching physician “would eat (the plaintiff) for lunch.” Dr. Ingham agreed that the patient would be “eaten alive” and “also jokingly discussed a hypothetical of firing a gun up a rectum.”
• Dr. Ingham said to the unconscious patient: “After five minutes of talking to you in pre-op, I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit.”
• The doctors also speculated whether the patient was gay because he attended a university that was once a women’s college. “Are you implying that he’s gay,” Dr. Ingham asked Dr. Shah. “Because I know gay men that have more manliness than him.”
• The doctors talked about “misleading and avoiding” the patient after he regained consciousness, and Dr. Ingham said she would note in the patient’s file that he had hemorrhoids, although he did not.
• The plaintiff and his wife said they were disgusted after they listened to the recording of the conversation on the drive home from the hospital.

This case is perhaps the most extreme example I have seen of what can happen when doctors take advantage of their sedated patients.  Unreal.

Thanks for reading,

Christina Sonsire
csonsire@zifflaw.com