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Patient sues for alleged botched knee surgery
A woman is suing the Commonwealth Health Center for the alleged failure of its doctor who performed a total knee replacement surgery on her in 2010.
Agapita B. Borja asked the Superior Court to hold CHC liable for negligence and pay her $100,000 in compensation for her personal injuries. Her husband, Jose Borja, also joined as co-plaintiff and demanded payment from CHC for another $100,000 for loss of consortium.
The Borjas, who are represented by attorney William M. Fitzgerald, are currently temporarily living in Washington State.
Saipan Tribune called the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. yesterday but no one was available to comment.
According to the complaint, Agapita Borja was treated at CHC in 2010 for arthritis of the right knee by Dr. Ruben Arafiles, an orthopedic surgeon employed at CHC. At Arafiles’ direction, Agapita was admitted to the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in the Philippines in July 2010.
Fitzgerald said that, on July 26, 2010, while still employed at CHC, Agafiles performed total knee replacement surgery on Agapita at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.
itzgerald said that Arafiles so negligently performed the surgery that the total knee replacement was a total failure.
“As a result of the botched and failed surgery, Agapita was forced to endure excruciating pain throughout the next two years,” he said.
Fitzgerald said Arafiles continued to treat Agapita and told her that the total knee replacement had in fact been a total success and was properly done and that any pain she was experiencing was psychological and not from the surgery.
Finally, in May 2012, Agapita went to the Philippines and was examined by Dr. Ilustre Guloy, who informed her that her total knee replacement had failed and that she would need to undergo another total knee replacement to fix the problem.
Fitzgerald said as a result of the negligence of CHC and Arafiles, Agapita was forced to have total knee replacement surgery done all over again.
