SANTA ROSA, Calif. (CN) - A simple bunion removal at Kaiser led to gangrene requiring amputation, a man claims in Sonoma County Superior Court.

     Robert De La Riva sued Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, The Permanente Medical Group, Inc., and a podiatrist – Sharon Marie Wiles, D.P.M.

     De La Riva, 48, says in his lawsuit that Kaiser and Dr. Wiles gave him no post-bunionectomy care or self-care instructions except to take more pain medication and to put ice on the site. Then they blamed him when he got gangrene, he says.

     Kaiser and Dr. Wiles’ “reckless neglect and abandonment includes but is not limited to failing to even see plaintiff the first day post operatively when Robert De La Riva called reporting severe pain and instead merely telling him to increase his pain medications, which he did. This also includes but is not limited to reckless failure to provide any care or instructions regarding swelling and treatment by icing. Defendants and each of them compounded such reckless neglect by seeking to blame plaintiff for purportedly ‘excessive’ icing,” the complaint states.

     “Defendants and each of them intentionally caused severe emotional distress to Robert De La Riva by seeking to blame him for the failures of defendants and each of them including but not limited to ‘icing,’ going to a Giants game, smoking and other erroneous and unfounded criticisms,” according to the complaint.

     Robert De La Riva is represented by Douglas C. Fladseth of Santa Rosa.