A Milwaukee mother has been living with a foreign object in her body for over three decades. The object has left her in continuous pain and with several health complications. As a result, Deborah Lowe filed a lawsuit accusing the Mount Sinai Medical Center, which has been renamed as the Aurora Sinai Medical Center, of medical negligence.
In addition to her lawsuit, Lowe is wondering how such a thing happened and went undetected for so long.
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“How could they do this, who could make this mistake?” she said to CBS58 through tears. “This is too much, I shouldn’t have to go through this.” Lowe’s health issues began in 1989, when she was admitted to the hospital to deliver her twins via C-section, the Daily Mail reports. There were complications during the procedure and doctors performed an emergency total hysterectomy. After the surgery, doctors placed Lowe on life support for two months.
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“I had tubes everywhere,” she said recalling that time. “Feeding tubes, everything on me.” One of the feeding tubes was never removed. It’s been causing her pain in the 35 years since. “Since 1989, I couldn’t do things. I had migraines, shortness of breath, and my stomach constantly swelled,” she told Fox 6. “I was 25 years old. That’s my whole life.”
In the years since, Lowe has returned to the hospital several times trying to find the source of her discomfort. In 2010, she went to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain. In 2013 and 2023, she had colonoscopies. But doctors never found an answer. In 2024, doctors performed another colon procedure at Froedtert Hospital. That’s when a doctor discovered the tube from 1989.
In a statement, Lowe’s attorney B’Ivory LaMarr said, “[Lowe’s] suffering was entirely preventable. This case is a glaring example of systemic failure within our healthcare system. No patient should endure decades of pain because of a preventable mistake hidden in plain sight. This case is a glaring example of systemic failure within our healthcare system. No patient should endure decades of pain because of a preventable mistake hidden in plain sight.”
In addition to medical negligence, Lowe is suing for breach of fiduciary duty and emotional distress.
Lowe says this oversight cost her so much of her life. “I was only 25 years old, and I couldn’t have no more kids, now I’m still going through things. I can’t do things I used to do. I would want no one to go through this,” she said. “It’s terrible when you don’t know what’s going on inside of you. You just try to live day by day.”
LeMarr hopes Lowe’s case brings about protection for future patients.
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