Plastic surgeon Sean Darcy and medical group sued

A San Diego woman claims in court that a November 2012 plastic surgery operation scheduled to last six hours was so poorly performed that she remained under anesthesia for over nine hours, which resulted in the permanent loss of vision in both eyes.

Dr. Sean Darcy, working for South Bay Head and Neck Medical Group (operating under the name New Image Cosmetic Surgery), was hired by Jennifer Finlan to perform a breast reduction, tummy tuck, and liposuction. Finlan claims that a sales rep with New Image claimed that Darcy had performed "more than 50" of the procedures in question.

But according to a Courthouse News Service report, Finlan was not informed that Darcy had been dismissed from a plastic-surgery residency program at UC Irvine for various causes, including "(a) deficiency in numerous clinical areas including knowledge of anatomy and technical skills, (b) inconsistent clinical performance resulting in 'alarming' evaluations; (c) 'lackluster' and 'declining' performance throughout the residency in general; (d) 'grossly unacceptable' test scores in the bottom 9th percentile and bottom 21st percentile nationwide; (f) falling 'significantly short in areas of preparation, attention to detail, and follow-up'; (g) documented incidents where his conduct 'bordered on dangerous with respect to patient safety'; and (h) an incident in which defendant Darcy threatened one of his instructors with a scalpel during a remedial suturing skills exercise."

In fact, on the day Finlan went under the knife, Darcy filed paperwork challenging his dismissal.

In addition to Darcy and New Image, Finlan is suing Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital for "medical negligence, negligent hiring and retention, constructive fraud, concealment, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, and premises liability."