Medical Malpractice-Patient received spleen injury during colonoscopy

$1.5 million verdict

Injuries alleged: Improper performance of colonoscopy, causing need for splenectomy and immunocompromised status for the rest of her life

Name of case: Mary Catherine Zurowski v. Gastroenterology Center of Northern Virginia Ltd. and Pradeep Gupta M.D.

Court: Arlington County Circuit Court

Case no.: Cl25-827

Tried before: Judge

Name of judge: Judge Louise DiMatteo

Date resolved: May 9, 2026

Amount: $1.5 million

Attorneys for plaintiff: Travis W. Markley, Richard L. Nagle and James N. Knaack, Reston, TrialHawk Litigation Group

Case description: On March 5, 2024, plaintiff underwent a colonoscopy performed by the defendant gastroenterologist at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. Although the defendant’s procedure note characterized the colonoscopy as extremely difficult, he advanced to the cecum in five minutes, faster than he had previously done for an uncomplicated colonoscopy performed five years earlier.

Discovery revealed and testimony at trial confirmed that prior to the March 2024 colonoscopy, the defendant was unaware that the plaintiff had donated her left kidney to her husband one year earlier.

Based on her age, gender and history of abdominal surgeries, the plaintiff was at higher risk of injury to the spleen. The defendant physician did not take these risk factors for splenic injury into consideration when planning and executing his procedure. On the contrary, he performed the colonoscopy with excessive speed, and once he encountered difficulty, he did not avail himself of any techniques that would minimize the risk of splenic injury. On the contrary, the defendant requested the application of abdominal pressure to the left upper quadrant by two staff members, including one who applied so much pressure that he believed the patient may have been hurt. The defendant did not consider aborting the procedure and converting to a virtual colonoscopy. However, he did recommend that the patient’s next colonoscopy be performed virtually due to the amount of looping he encountered.

Later in the day after discharge from the hospital, the plaintiff developed the onset of left shoulder pain and vomiting. She returned to the hospital via EMS, where she was diagnosed with acute blood loss related to a significantly lacerated spleen. The patient underwent an emergency splenectomy, spent several days in the intensive care unit, and was hospitalized for a total of nine days. She is now immunocompromised and has been re-hospitalized once because of her increased susceptibility to the specific infections that the absence of a spleen impacts.

The defense made no offer of settlement before or during trial. The five-day jury trial culminated with deliberations of approximately three hours before the jury returned a plaintiff’s verdict in the amount of $1.5 million.