NEW YORK, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A New York man has filed suit against a hospital that tried to discharge him despite his discomfort that turned out to be a surgical sponge left in his chest.

Gregorio Jimenez, 59, was admitted for triple-bypass surgery at Montefiore Medical Center but reported discomfort following the operation. He complained of breathing trouble, loss of appetite and had swollen legs. But hospital staff tried to discharge him nine days later, the New York Post reported Friday.

Jimenez refused to listen and a subsequent CAT scan revealed a sponge lodged in his chest, just outside his heart. The sponge was removed shortly afterward.

"If I had listened to them and gone home, God only knows what would've happened to me," Jimenez told the newspaper through an interpreter.

Jimenez has filed a suit in the Bronx Supreme Court. A hospital spokesman would not comment on the matter, the newspaper reported.