Laguna Beach, California, gynecologist Red Alinsod is being sued over branding a uterus during removal in one of the strangest medical malpractice lawsuits across the nation—carving the patient’s first name, “Ingrid” on the woman’s organ and accused of burning the woman’s legs.
Gynecological patient Ingrid Paulicivic, a hairdresser by trade, has filed a California lawsuit pertaining to leg burns she says were acquired during a 2009 hysterectomy with doctor Alinsod. Paulicivic says that the doctor used an “electrocautery device to carve and burn” the word “Ingrid” on her uterus, which was removed during a June 2009 operation at his Orange County office.
Dr. Alinsod claims he carved "Ingrid" in inch-high letters on the removed uterus only after he had taken it out--that the labeling helps in the event that a woman requests return of the organ as a souvenir.
In what is already bizarre, Doctor Alinsod stated that he’d never performed this type of act on an excess organ prior, but thought the labeling would be helpful when identifying the woman’s uterus with other medical waste that was laying around.
The electrocautery branding is a "friendly gesture", says the 50-year-old Alinsod. Paulicivic’s attorney claims that Alinsod was having fun.
Ingrid Paulicivic alleges in the lawsuit that the branding of her uterus not only had no “medical necessity” but that she also suffered burns on her legs while the uterus was being marked. Despite use of an electrocautery tool, Alinsod claims he doesn’t know how the burns appeared on Paulicivic's leg.
Alinsod is not the first physician caught or charged with branding a uterus. Perhaps he wanted to put it on life’s “to-do” list—but branding is not a common practice. A doctor in Kentucky was legally charged with defamation of a female organ in 2003.