Another medical malpractice lawsuit was filed Feb. 11 against Columbia, Mo.-based Mizzou BioJoint Center, bringing the pending total of lawsuits to at least 11, the Columbia Missourian reports.
What you should know:
1. The new filing includes orthopedic surgeon James Stannard, MD, and BioJoint Center director of operations and scientific director James Cook, PhD, who have both been named in other lawsuits.
2. Wesley Richards, a former BioJoint patient, is suing because he claims he was not told the procedure he underwent had a failure rate as high as 86 percent. The lawsuit also claims Dr. Stannard was negligent in more than 17 different instances and that he allowed Dr. Cook to perform part of Mr. Richards' surgery without medical direction or supervision.
3. Mizzou BioJoint has had legal trouble in the past. The center uses experimental treatments, which has led to medical malpractice claims. However, the center recently scored a legal victory when a court dismissed the center as a defendant in a lawsuit in 2019. In that lawsuit, the judge dismissed the claim the center violated the Missouri Merchandising Practice Act, but did not provide a written explanation for the dismissal.
4. Recently, attorney Todd Hendrickson, who represents patients, filed a motion to consolidate most of the lawsuits against the center.
5. A Columbia-based MU Health spokesperson declined to comment to the Missourian on the litigation.