A Village of Duval woman has filed a lawsuit against The Villages Health accusing one of its doctors of “permanently injuring” her spinal nerves during a lumbar decompression procedure.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Sumter County circuit court by Barry Morgan of Orlando-based Morgan Law Office on behalf of his client, Sandra L. Lando-Madsen, and her husband, Jeffrey Madsen. The suit claims that, while working for The Villages Health System, Dr. Harsha Rajashekar allegedly performed a procedure on Lando-Madsen that led to permanent injury.
According to the complaint, Lando-Madsen, who is 79 years old, visited Dr. Rajashekar on March 7, 2022 to undergo an interventional pain procedure known as “‘minimally invasive lumbar decompression,’ commonly known as a MILD procedure).”
Prior to that day, Lando-Madsen’s attorneys say that Dr. Rajashekar and one of his nurse practitioners “recommended the procedure” to their client and allegedly advised her “that it was a better alternative to the spinal injections she had been receiving.”
The complaint goes on to state that the doctor and his nurse assured Lando-Madsen that the procedure was “virtually risk free.”
“Such representations were not true and in fact, a MILD procedure for the Plaintiff carried with it substantial risks of injury which were not explained to Plaintiff,” says Lando-Madsen’s attorneys.
The complaint states that during the procedure, Dr. Rajashekar caused an injury that tore “the dura of her spinal canal,” which resulted in a release of “spinal fluid” and the permanent injuring of “spinal nerves within the spinal canal,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges one count of negligence, one count of failure to obtain informed consent, and one count of vicarious liability of The Villages Health.
Lando-Madsen is seeking damages in excess of $30,000, “exclusive of costs, interest and attorney’s fees.” She is also seeking judgement “against The Villages Health System for damages, costs of this action, prejudgement, and post-judgement interest and such other and further relief to which plaintiffs may be entitled,” reads the complaint.
Although the lawsuit does not cite where the procedure took place, according to his Florida Department of Health medical practitioner profile, Rajashekar works at the Center for Advanced Healthcare at Brownwood in The Villages.
As of Sept. 12, a summons has been issued to Rajashekar and The Villages Health System, according to Sumter County court records.
