After a botched surgery, Milford resident Deborah Craven filed a lawsuit last week against the Yale-New Haven Medical Center and the University for negligence and unfair trade practices.

At Yale-New Haven Hospital last May, Dr. Anthony Kim and Dr. Ricardo Quarrie directed the removal of a precancerous lesion from Craven’s eighth rib. However, the doctors made a mistake and removed part of her seventh rib, even though the eighth rib was marked with a metal coil and dye. As a result, Craven, 60, had to undergo a second surgery the next day.

“The fact that the surgical team operated on the wrong rib despite a clear indication of the proper site is, of course, negligent,” said Craven’s attorney, Joel T. Faxon of Faxon Law Group in New Haven.

Furthermore, in a complaint filed in the Connecticut Superior Court, Craven claimed that Quarrie tried to cover up the surgical mishap and misinformed Craven of the reason for a second surgery. The complaint also said that although Craven requested that Quarrie not be involved in the second surgery, medical records show that he was involved.

YNHH released a statement defending its practices and disputing Craven’s claims, arguing that Craven was made aware of the mistake.

“Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale Medical Group are committed to providing the safest and highest quality of care possible. However, even in the best organizations medical errors  may occur,” the statement read.  “With respect to the case of Ms. Craven, we recognized that an error was made, we informed and apologized to the patient.”

YNHH said the error was immediately reported to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

Included with the complaint Craven filed was the statement of an anonymous board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon who noted that Craven’s doctors should have done more to ensure that the surgery was properly executed.

“Dr. Kirn and his resident/fellow, Dr. Ricardo Quarrie, failed to meet the standard of care expected of a thoracic surgeon in operating on the wrong rib because he failed to confirm the correct rib intraoperatively with an x-ray or fluoroscopy,” the surgeon said.