WAYWARD NEEDLE? A patient blames his punctured lung on an interscalene brachial plexus nerve block.

A patient alleges that a wayward interscalene brachial plexus nerve block punctured his right lung, according to a medical negligence complaint he filed against his anesthesiologist.

Leonard F. Ciangi alleges anesthesiologist Michael Nikolov, MD, of Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., failed to take adequate precaution in the placement of an anesthesia needle during the 2008 surgery to repair the plaintiff's right rotator cuff, thereby resulting in a permanent injury to his right lung. Originally filed in 2010, the complaint was voluntarily dismissed with leave on Nov. 17, 2015, and then re-filed last month.

The complaint alleges that Dr. Nikolov, in the process of performing an interscalene brachial plexus nerve block on Mr. Ciangi, punctured or otherwise injured Mr. Ciangi's right phrenic nerve with the anesthesia needle. As a direct result, the complaint continues, Mr. Ciangi suffered permanent paralysis of his right hemidiaphragm and permanent loss of the use of his right lung.

"[Ciangi] always feels like he's out of breath, and he's limited in terms of what he can do," says John M. Driscoll, the plaintiff's attorney. "He feels it with every breath he takes."

When we reached him for comment, Dr. Nikolov says he was unable to discuss the specifics of the incident that led to the complaint.

Bill Donahue