CHARLESTON -- A Kanawha County woman and her husband are suing Charleston Area Medical Center after they claim it was negligent in caring for her.
Dr. G. Stephen Dawson also was named as a defendant in the suit.
On July 22, 2010, Traci McClanahan was negligently cared for by the defendants, according to a complaint filed Aug. 3 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
McClanahan claims Dawson failed to properly perform excision of the left posterior triangle cervical lymph node and/or caused significant and permanent damage to the spinal accessory nerve.
Dawson also failed to recognized and timely diagnose the spinal nerve injury, which denied McClanahan the opportunity for primary nerve repair, according to the suit.
McClanahan claims CAMC failed to properly and timely refer her "to the appropriate specialist for evaluation and reparative surgery" and was otherwise negligent in the care and treatment provided to her.
The defendants' negligence, carelessness and recklessness caused McClanahan to suffer severe permanent and irreversible deficit and damage to the spinal accessory nerve, according to the suit.
McClanahan and her husband, Charles McClanahan, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre- and post-judgment interest. They are being represented by Richard D. Lindsay and Matthew C. Lindsay.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 12-C-1562