A Northern Light surgeon mistakenly removed a woman’s bladder during a surgery to remove a benign ovarian cyst, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month.

Emily Mitchell, of Skowhegan, filed the lawsuit in Kennebec County Superior Court against Inland Hospital in Waterville and Northern Light Health, alleging that a surgeon at Inland Hospital removed her healthy bladder, instead of the ovarian cyst, during a surgery in 2023.

Mitchell and her husband, Joshua, allege that the hospital failed to inform Mitchell that her bladder could be removed during surgery and did not recognize the error or act in a timely manner to address the injury. Joshua Mitchell also claims he lost the care and companionship of his wife.

Susan Faunce, an attorney who is representing Mitchell and her husband, said in a written statement Tuesday that proper safety protocols were not followed during the procedure.

“This devastating injury was entirely preventable,” Faunce wrote. “Emily Mitchell’s bladder would not have been removed if Inland Hospital, and Northern Light Health had followed proper safety protocols.”

Suzanne Spruce, a spokesperson for Northern Light Health, said Tuesday that the health care system does not comment on pending litigation.

Inland Hospital closed in June due to financial struggles. The hospital was causing Northern Light Health to lose up to $1.5 million a month, contributing to the system’s $156 million deficit in its most recent fiscal year, according to a January financial performance presentation.

According to the lawsuit, a doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology who was employed at Inland Hospital evaluated Mitchell’s benign ovarian cyst before performing laparoscopic surgery to remove it on March 1, 2023. The doctor collected the material she had removed to send to pathology.

After the surgery, according to the lawsuit, Mitchell reported intense pain, discomfort, bloating and trouble urinating. She was admitted to the hospital and had only urinated once by the next day.

Inland Hospital providers suspected an injury to Mitchell’s bladder or ureters, small tubes that pass urine, according to the lawsuit. Mitchell was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center for an exploratory surgery. Two surgeons there, the lawsuit said, were unable to find Mitchell’s bladder wall during the procedure.

Analysis of the specimens the doctor at Inland Hospital had sent to pathology found “full thickness fragments of bladder wall” and no ovarian tissue, according to the lawsuit.

Additional surgeons at Eastern Maine Medical Center were called in and agreed there was not enough healthy bladder tissue to reconstruct or repair the organ.

The doctor at Inland Hospital “had incorrectly removed nearly all of Emily’s healthy bladder,” the lawsuit claims.

According to the lawsuit, the doctor failed to adequately plan before the procedure or obtain adequate visualization of the bladder and other anatomical structures during the surgery. Mitchell would not have consented to the surgery, the lawsuit said, had she known the doctor was going to remove her bladder.

Spruce said the doctor is no longer employed by Northern Light Health. The doctor was not listed as a defendant in the case.

Mitchell had tubes placed to drain her urine, but over the eight months following the surgery, she continued to experience kidney infections, urinary tract infections and other complications, according to the lawsuit.

During a surgery to build Mitchell a new bladder from her intestinal tissue, a surgeon in Boston discovered damage to her ureters, the lawsuit said, making the surgery “200% more difficult” and three hours longer than usual.

Nearly two years later, according to the lawsuit, Mitchell still requires a catheter multiple times a day.

The lawsuit claims that, as a result of the hospital’s negligence, Mitchell has been damaged by past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life. Mitchell is seeking “compensatory damages, interest, costs and other further relief.”

Mitchell, who was 40 at the time of the surgery, “has and will continue to experience complications as a result of having her bladder removed for the remainder of her life,” the lawsuit said.

Faunce said in a statement that this case should compel Northern Light Health and other hospitals to prevent avoidable errors from happening in the future.

“This case highlights a critical failure in the systems meant to protect patients,” Faunce wrote. “When safety protocols are overlooked, patients are harmed — and that’s unacceptable. Our goal isn’t just justice in this case, but to hold hospitals such as Inland Hospital and Northern Light Health accountable for avoidable errors.”