New York mother sues Mount Sinai after a surgical needle remained in her abdomen for years
A New York woman alleges that doctors at Mount Sinai left a 1.5-inch needle inside her during surgeries, prompting a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Jana Petriganova DeGregoris, who works as a cardiothoracic nurse practitioner for the Mount Sinai health system, says a roughly 1.5-inch surgical needle was left inside her abdomen during one of two operations—a C-section with plastic-surgery wound closure in June 2018 and an abdominoplasty with hernia repair in November 2021. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, accuses surgeons Isabel Blumberg, Philip Torina and Scott Nguyen, as well as the hospital, of carelessly retaining the needle.
The retained object allegedly caused her severe pain for seven years until a CT scan on October 14, 2025 revealed it, after which she underwent another surgery to extract it. Petriganova DeGregoris and her husband Gerard are pursuing an unspecified sum in damages. Neither the doctors nor Mount Sinai responded to comment requests, and their attorney John Cagney declined to speak.
Why it matters
The case highlights potential patient safety failures and legal risks for major hospitals.
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