Embattled NY surgeons sued

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NEW YORK, May 19 (UPI) -- A woman sued two New York neurosurgeons, already under fire for allegedly failing to perform scheduled surgery, for allegedly performing an unnecessary surgery.

A lawyer for Kristy Pirozzolo, 42, said that her client was fainting periodically when she sought help from the Chiari Institute at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island and its surgeons, Thomas Milhorat and Paolo Bolognese. Pirozzolo, represented by Cristina Ctorides, is seeking $10 million.

"She was looking to get her life back," Ctorides told the New York Daily News. "She had two surgeries which have made her so much worse."

Milhorat, who has resigned from North Shore, and Bolognese, who has returned to work after a suspension, became famous as experts on the Chiari brain malformation, which causes headaches and dizziness. They diagnosed Pirozzolo as having the Chiara malformation and an improperly attached spinal cord.

Pirozzolo went to the institute after her mother saw a TV show featuring the two doctors.

Milhorat resigned after the News reported that Bolognese could not be found after a patient had been prepped for surgery and he refused to step in.