Three women have brought malpractice lawsuits against Dr. Paolo Bolognese, a Roslyn brain surgeon, for injuries stemming from recent surgeries.
Each of the women sought treatment for chiari malformation, a usually congenital disease that causes a structural defect in the brain.
“They were able to work and do activities of daily living until they went into the operation room with Dr. Bolognese,” said Jordan Merson, the attorney representing the three plaintiffs. “Their lives have come to a crashing halt since that day.”
The plaintiffs are Crystal Hensley Hall, 29, of Ellijay, Ga.; Jennifer Lake, 24, of Rio Ranch, N.M; and Lori White, 55, of Sterling, Va. Their lawsuits were brought in Queens County Supreme Court.
Merson said the surgeries took longer than expected, each lasting approximately five to eight hours.
But he said the cases focus primarily on the “deterioration of each woman’s condition that occurred from the moment they were done with surgery.”
Dr. Bolognese is the director of the Chiari Neurosurgical Center at Neurological Surgery in Rockville Centre.
According to Newsday, Lake’s and White’s legal complaints alleged that Dr. Bolognese misplaced items while conducting the surgery, causing severe injury.
Hall’s lawsuit said Dr. Bolognese did not adequately perform the surgery, nor did he respond to her complaints about pain afterward.
A few of Bolognese’s other patients have come to his defense, including Sarah Dyer, who herself suffers from chiari malformation.
“My experience with Dr. Bolognese has been nothing but excellent,” she said.
She underwent a 10-and-a-half-hour surgery with Dr. Bolognese on Feb. 17 to treat her chiari malformation as well as a related ailment called cranial cervical instability, which compromises structural support for the spine.
“My life last year at this time was terrible,” she said. “Now I’m able to go to my children’s football games and scream and cheer. In the past that would’ve caused me intense pain and agony.”
She noted that Dr. Bolognese has made himself available promptly whenever questions have arisen since the surgery.
Merson said he is awaiting a response from the defendant’s counsel to the complaints he filed in late October.
Dr. Bolognese’s representation is unknown at this time. He has 20 days to respond from the date the complaint was filed.
Efforts to reach Dr. Bolognese and Rosaleen McCrory, a lawyer for Dr. Bolognese in other malpractice lawsuits, were unavailing.
