Doctor mistakes drain cleaner for vinegar, suit says

Tom Meyer | WKYC-TV, Cleveland

Show Caption Hide Caption Patient: Doctor used drain cleaning chemical on me An Ohio woman claims her doctor sprayed her reproductive parts with a chemical used in drain cleaner, burning her from the inside.

Woman went to gynecologist%27s office for a colposcopy%2C a fairly routine procedure

Part of the procedure calls for irrigating the cervix with an acidic solution like vinegar

But a bottle marked %22vinegar%22 instead was a caustic solution

AKRON, Ohio — An Ohio woman is accusing her gynecologist of spraying her internally with the same chemical used in drain cleaner, according to a malpractice lawsuit filed here.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used because of the nature of her injuries, was undergoing what was supposed to be a routine examination called a colposcopy — a way for a doctor to look at a woman's vulva, vagina and cervix — at the office of her gynecologist, who works for Paragon Health in Summit County.

"I was the victim of a pretty horrific experience at my gynecologist exam," she said.

During a colposcopy, which often is done after an abnormal Pap smear, a woman is positioned on an examination table and an acetic acid such as vinegar is squirted onto the cervix. The doctor then uses a microscope called a colposcope to look at the cervix for abnormalities.

A healthy vagina's pH is 3.5 to 4.5, on the acidic side; vinegar can have a pH of 2.5 to 5 depending on the type and how much it is diluted. A pH of 7 is neutral.

The physician, Dr. John Black, used a spray bottle with the word "vinegar" marked on the side to squirt a solution inside her vagina, according to the suit, filed Sept. 30 in Summit County Common Pleas Court. Immediately, the woman said she felt a horrible pain and burning.

Her lawsuit names Black and other unidentified Paragon Health employees as defendants. Black and Paragon did not return phone calls and refused to allow a reporter in the office. But in responses to the lawsuit, Black maintained that he sprayed what he thought was a vinegar liquid into her vagina.

Paragon denies virtually all other allegations in the lawsuit.

"It was like an open cut with rubbing alcohol being poured into it," the 39-year-old said.

The spray bottle didn't contain vinegar. The woman and her husband say the solution instead had potassium hydroxide, one of the corrosive chemicals found in drain cleaner. Such a chemical can have a pH of 12 to 14, a strong base like lye, the exact opposite of something acidic.

"It soaks in and continues to soak in and burns from the inside out. It's not meant to go inside anyone's body," said the woman's husband, who has demonstrated outside Paragon's offices since the mid-May 2012 incident with signs alleging that Paragon permanently injured his wife by burning her internally.

Chemistry professor David Ball of Cleveland State University said potassium hydroxide is an extremely caustic chemical. He placed part of hot dog into a container of potassium hydroxide to demonstrate. Within minutes, the hot dog began falling apart.

"It literally breaks up the skin," Ball said. "It decomposes the skin."

Black suspected something went terribly wrong after he sprayed the solution, according to the lawsuit. He placed a tiny amount of it into a cup. Medical records say the doctor "tasted it on the tip of his tongue, which immediately started to burn."

Black is accused of saying, "I'm breaking all the rules" and proceeded to irrigate the chemically burned area with three bottles of saline solution. He also applied a cream to the woman's vagina and cervix to numb the pain.

But in his haste, the couple said the doctor did not put on protective gloves.

"He puts an ungloved, dirty finger inside her and rubs a numbing cream inside her. It's disgusting," the woman's husband said.

The woman said she wasn't sure what was happening when the doctor told her, "I hope you're not offended. I just want to let you know I've been married forever, and I don't have any diseases."

Within hours of leaving the doctor's office, a Paragon employee phoned the woman, instructing her to go immediately to Akron General Hospital's emergency room.

While there, doctors found a plastic bottle cap behind her cervix, according to hospital records.

The couple also said Paragon officials misinformed the hospital about the pH of the liquid that Black used, claiming it was a harmless 7.5. It actually was 12 or greater.

"I don't know of anything in the body that has a pH of 12 or greater," Ball said. "It would be damaging to the body."

Among the problems that continue almost a year and a half after the incident are ongoing, irregular bleeding and pain. The woman said she can't have sex with her husband or even swim with her two children.

The lawsuit alleges that Paragon failed to properly train employees on the hazards associated with potassium hydroxide, and that employees were not trained to mitigate potential problems associated with exposure to the caustic chemical.

They say Paragon failed to have Occupational Safety and Health Administration-required documents to help them deal with a chemical emergency. The suit asks for damages in excess of $25,000, standard legal language in the state, and a jury trial.

The couple said they were hoping to have more children, but the woman believes that she will need a hysterectomy.

"This a scenario that no woman would ever, ever imagine," she said.