DETROIT — A family has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a Detroit hospital after staff allegedly lost a portion of a woman’s skull that was removed during emergency brain surgery — and later attempted to apologize with a $25 gas station gift card, according to court documents and local reports.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 16 in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of Edna Burton, 61, a longtime former employee of Ascension St. John Hospital who suffered a severe stroke in June 2023. Surgeons performed a decompressive hemicraniectomy, a procedure that removes a section of skull to relieve life-threatening brain swelling, with plans to reattach the bone once the swelling subsided.
According to the complaint, hospital staff later informed Burton’s family that the original bone flap could not be located when the time came for the follow-up surgery. The lawsuit alleges the hospital confused her bone with that of another patient with a similar name and ultimately lost or discarded it, forcing doctors to implant a synthetic prosthetic plate instead.
Burton’s daughter, Erica Burton, said her mother’s health deteriorated significantly after the prosthetic was inserted. She is now reportedly bed-bound, dependent on a feeding tube, and has developed additional complications such as bed sores and reduced communication. She requires ongoing nursing care, the lawsuit states.
Hospital administrators have denied any causal link between Burton’s decline and the change to a prosthetic plate, and Henry Ford Health — which assumed stewardship of the facility after the incident — has sought to be dismissed from the lawsuit, arguing the alleged error occurred before its management began. The system has declined further comment due to ongoing litigation.
Medical experts often prefer reattaching a patient’s own bone — known as an autologous bone flap — because it can integrate more naturally than synthetic replacements. The lawsuit highlights broader questions about surgical protocols, the handling and storage of biological tissues, and standards for preventing labeling or storage errors during critical procedures.
