Doctor takes stand in amputee's malpractice suit

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Dr. Larry Glazerman says there is no way he accidentally cut into Lisa-Maria Carter's small bowel while performing surgery.

Dr. Glazerman is being blamed for botching a routine procedure to remove an ovarian cyst, inadvertently puncturing the small bowel, and failing to catch it the mistake. 

That mistake cost Carter her arms and legs. 

Dr. Glazerman says if he had knicked her bowel, he couldn't have missed it.

"If what we hypothesized happened we would have seen two holes in the bowel clearly. The skewering at the abdominal wall was impossible. Could not have happened in this case," said Glazerman.

Instead, Dr. Glazerman offered an alternative theory that maybe the small bowel was injured during the procedure.

"That small section of the bowel could necrose which means die basically and the necrotic part could turn into a hole," said Glazerman.

What is clear is that something went terribly wrong. Lisa-Maria developed a massive infection that led to her having her arms and legs amputated.

The former Department of Defense analyst would never be the same. She would lose her job and need 24-hour care.

Lisa-Maria is suing USF for millions of dollars in damages.

Under cross examination, Dr. Glazerman was asked if he would consider it a lapse in care if he failed to detect a hole in her bowel.

Glazerman waffled on his answer.

"I don't know if I have an opinion on that. Well, first of all, well I would agree with that, yes," conceded Dr. Glazerman.

The trial is expected to wrap up Thursday.