Waking up ‘gasping’: Woman sues Prisma Health, surgeon for damaging ability to breathe
- SCCLR Newsletter
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
By: Andy Tsubasa Field
COLUMBIA — A Richland County resident is suing Prisma Health and one of its plastic surgeons alleging he permanently injured the nerve that controls her diaphragm and left her with lasting breathing problems.
In a lawsuit filed in Richland County court, Sheri Callahan, 54, alleges Dr. Mirsad Mirza Mujadzic of Prisma Health Plastic Surgery failed to use proper surgical techniques, perform the proper surgery on two occasions and properly diagnose or treat her condition.
The complaint, filed in October, also claims Prisma Health was negligent for allegedly failing to provide Callahan with a surgeon qualified and trained to perform the surgeries. The complaint also alleges the Greenville-based hospital system failed to properly staff its Columbia-area facilities, train employees and communicate key findings to the medical personnel who could address them.
Callahan is seeking compensatory damages for current and future medical expenses, lost wages and her permanent impairments to be determined by a jury. She is also asking a jury to decide on punitive damages intended to punish the defendants.
In 2020, Callahan, who suffered a shoulder injury about 20 years ago, developed numbness and tingling in her right hand that progressed to her shoulder, the complaint said. She saw Mujadzic the following year and was diagnosed with bilateral thoracic outlet compression syndrome (TOS), a disorder involving pressure on blood vessels or nerves between the neck and shoulder, the filing said.
In 2022, Mujadzic gave her pain-relief injections before operating on her right arm, even though her attorney argues he is a plastic surgeon rather than a thoracic or vascular specialist who usually performs such surgeries.
A report from the 2022 operation said Mujadzic dissected and moved aside Callahan’s phrenic nerve, which was embedded in scar tissue, according to the lawsuit. His contact with the nerve increased the risk of injuring it when he again dissected and retracted it while operating on her left side the following year, the lawsuit said.
In the complaint, Callahan’s attorney argues that Mujadzic failed to meet accepted medical standards and should have brought in a neurosurgeon with a scope device to reduce the risk of injuring the nerve.
In emergency room visits in January 2024, Callahan first reported shortness of breath, worsening surgical pain, reduced drain output, chills and night sweats, and later returned with continued pain and trouble breathing, the lawsuit said. It says X-rays and CT scans showed her left diaphragm was abnormally elevated, her stomach was swollen with gas, part of her left lung had partially collapsed and she had a buildup of post-surgical fluid.
After seeing Mujadzic without improvement, she sought a second opinion at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston that summer, where surgeons attempted to repair her phrenic nerve but could not locate it, the lawsuit said. Despite a later MUSC surgery meant to treat her diaphragm, Callahan saw little improvement, the filing said.
Along with the breathing issues, her attorney says Callahan also struggles to walk, talk and rest and has severely disrupted sleep, often waking gasping for air, among other symptoms.
“Prisma Health failed to provide Plaintiff a qualified and experienced surgeon … and Dr. Mujadzic breached the standard of care,” Callahan’s attorney, Lauren Knight Slocum of the Georgetown-based Elliott, Phelan, Kunz & Slocum law firm, wrote in the complaint.
“Defendants’ combined negligence and deviations in the standard of care as noted herein directly and proximately caused Plaintiff’s phrenic nerve injury, permanent impairment, losses as described above, disability, pain, suffering and medical costs to date.”
In their response filings, attorneys for Mujadzic and Prisma said they deny nearly all of Callahan’s allegations. They also asked the court to dismiss the punitive damages claims, citing state law that limits recovery against charitable organizations and their employees to actual damages. They also asked the court to dismiss Mujadzic from the case, arguing that state law blocks claims against an employee of a charitable organization unless the plaintiff proves the employee acted recklessly, willfully or with gross negligence.
“The Defendants assert that there is insufficient evidence of gross negligence at this point,” their attorneys James B. Hood, J. Collier Jones and Evan M. Sobocinski of the Charleston-based Hood Law Firm wrote.
Neither Mujadzic and Prisma Health’s attorneys nor a Prisma Health spokesperson responded to interview requests.
