In a lawsuit filed against Citrus Cardiology Consultants, a Village of St. James resident claims he sustained “significant injuries” that required emergency, “life and limb-saving” surgery after a doctor “negligently placed stents” in his leg, causing a “serious perforation.”
The lawsuit was filed by attorney Andrew F. Knopf on behalf of Barry Armstrong and his wife, Vicki, in Sumter County circuit court on Monday.
The couple is accusing Dr. Brian Saluck and his office, Citrus Cardiology Consultants, P.A., of negligence in the “care and treatment” of Mr. Armstrong during a procedure to address left leg stenosis.
According to the complaint, Armstrong first visited Citrus Cardiology at Lake Sumter Landing (910 Old Camp Road), where Saluck practices as an osteopathic physician, on October 16, 2021.
During that initial visit, Armstrong allegedly complained of “numbness in both legs.” The complaint states that Armstrong also had a “prior history of stents” to his iliac arteries and “superficial femoral artery,” which led Dr. Saluck to order a peripheral angiogram.
Armstrong returned to Dr. Saluck’s office on Oct. 25, 2021 for the angiography and stenting. According to the complaint, a note from the visit indicated that “orthopedic intervention” had not improved Armstrong’s symptoms, but there was no mention of a “referral to, or consultation with, a vascular surgeon.”
The complaint goes on to state that there are no records of the angiography taking place “in a hospital.”
“The angiography performed on Mr. Armstrong by Dr. Saluck was done in an outpatient office setting,” reads the complaint.
Dr. Saluck allegedly performed an ultrasound of both the left and right legs before beginning an angiography on to fix the “right iliac” in the “right common femoral artery.”
After completing the right leg, Dr. Saluck attempted to “fix the left iliac” in the “left common femoral artery” when a “major complication occurred,” according to the complaint.
The complaint states that while Dr. Saluck was “attempting to address the left leg stenosis,” he failed to recognize how “severely calcified the vessel was.” As a result, the complaint claims that Dr. Saluck “should not have utilized balloon angioplasty” and should have “referred Mr. Armstrong to a vascular surgeon.”
“Instead, Dr. Saluck persisted and caused a perforation,” reads the complaint. The document goes on to suggest that the doctor placed stents “completely outside the vessel and in the soft tissue” of the left leg.
“As a result of the negligently performed procedure and negligently placed stents, a serious perforation occurred,” according to the complaint.
The alleged perforation resulted in Armstrong needing to be airlifted to the Orlando Regional Medical Center for “life and limb-saving revascularization procedures,” according to the complaint.
During the emergency surgery, medical staff allegedly confirmed that Dr. Saluck “had placed stents through the artery and into the soft tissue.”
The complaint states that Armstrong required “more than one bypass surgery” and that he developed “complications” from the perforation, including infection and hematoma in the weeks and months that followed. It goes on to indicate that Armstrong also required “additional hospitalizations.”
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $50,000, exclusive of “interest, costs, and attorneys’ fees,” as well as a jury by trial.
Citrus Cardiology Consultants, P.A. currently operates four locations in The Villages at Spanish Springs Town Center, Lake Sumter Landing, Brownwood, and one along U.S. Hwy 441 in Lady Lake.
