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Pennsylvania internal medicine doctor Mario Adajar, MD, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that the podiatry treatment he received led to a severe infection that "caused [him] to needlessly suffer a right leg amputation."

The complaint -- filed against podiatrist Michael Baloga Jr., DPM, and two medical centers involved -- states that Adajar first sought treatment from Baloga in December 2020 for calluses on his feet and a chronic ulcer on his right foot. At this initial consultation, he told Baloga about his type II diabetes diagnosis and that he had recently undergone kidney transplant surgery.

Baloga allegedly treated Adajar a number of times over a period of several months. At the start of his treatment, the complaint says, Adajar's ulcer was debrided, a procedure that was "necessary to prevent limb loss due to underlying medical co-morbidities." According to the lawsuit, Adajar's ulcer was debrided at least nine more times after the initial debridement.

By June 2021, Adajar claimed that his wound was only getting worse and that his pain had reached a seven out of 10. The medical records referenced in the complaint show that a total contact cast was applied to the area. The next day, Adajar says he rushed to the emergency room after developing a 102.3° fever and excruciating pain under the cast.

At the emergency department, the internist's condition reportedly began to decline as he went into septic shock, followed by atrial fibrillation and acute hypoxic respiratory failure that required intubation. Adajar was then diagnosed with gram-negative bacilli bacteremia. According to legal documents, the ulcer in his right foot had also developed a severe infection and gas gangrene.

"As a result of intensive debridement and infection, Dr. Adajar never regained control/feeling of his lower limb," the lawsuit states.

In July 2021, the lower half of Adajar's right leg was amputated. He continues to practice medicine as an amputee.

Baloga, the Foot and Ankle Center, and the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Wound Healing Center are being sued for negligence. The suit claims that "had proper, medical intervention taken place, Dr. Adajar would not have required such intense intervention and would not have had his leg amputated... [the team] knew or should have known that a total contact leg cast was inappropriate and dangerous given Dr. Adajar's prior medical condition."

Adajar is seeking an excess of $50,000 worth of damages, as well as the price of arbitration costs.

According to the Foot and Ankle Center's , Baloga is still the chief of the podiatric medicine and surgery department at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

Baloga, the Foot and Ankle Center, and the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital did not respond to MedPage Today's request for comment as of the time of publication.

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