Andrew Walls, 32, from Delaware, is suing the Delaware Surgery Center in Dover after he woke up from a colonoscopy procedure and found himself wearing pink women's underwear.
The civil suit was filed before the New Castle County Superior Court, complaining of severe emotional stress he experienced from said incident, according to the legal documents obtained by The News Journal. Walls was an employee at the center at the time.
"The defendant's extreme and outrageous conduct went beyond all possible bounds of decency," wrote attorney Gary Nitsche in the complaint on behalf of Walls.
Nitsche detailed that his client went to the surgery center on October 12, 2012 for a colonoscopy. After he had recovered from anaesthesia, he woke up realizing he was wearing pink women's underwear. He didn't come in the center wearing such clothing nor did he agree to wear one. Walls felt that the surgery staff, who he assumed were his colleagues, did it intentionally to embarrass him.
"The staffs failed to maintain proper policies and procedures for the care of patients with respect to not engaging in extreme and outrageous conduct," the lawsuit showed.
The News Journal reached out to Delaware Surgery Center for comments on Wednesday, but Delaware Surgery Director Jennifer Anderson claimed that they only found out about the complaint the day before.
Other legal experts described the suit "off the wall" and were surprised that the case was brought to court instead of settlement.
"How do you not settle this case and let it get out in the community? This is the type of thing that, if it is true, you want to settle it and get a confidentiality agreement," said attorney Benjamin A. Schwartz, who is not involved in the case. He also added that it might be difficult to win the damages as the plaintiff needs to prove that there is actual financial loss because of the pink underwear incident.
