Bobby Jenks
Boston Red Sox Florida Marlins inning of a Spring Training baseball game in Fort Myers, Saturday, March 5, 2011.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
(Charles Krupa)
In a three-part series released on Sunday, the Boston Globe spotlight team investigated a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital being sued for concurrent surgeries on patients, one of whom was former Red Sox reliever Bobby Jenks.
In the extensive piece, Dr. Kirkham Wood is being sued by three patients, including Jenks, for performing surgery on two patients at the same time. According to the article, the practice is not uncommon at top hospitals with expert, high-demand surgeons, but one of the patients suing Wood was left paralyzed.
Jenks, who signed as a free agent with the Red Sox in the winter of 2010, greatly underperformed with the team the following spring and landed on the disabled list with an upper arm strain. When he returned to the team, he landed back on the DL in July with a back injury. In treating the back, doctors found a pulmonary embolism in which a clot had formed and broken off into his bloodstream resulting in back surgery.
Jenks never pitched again in the majors and the Red Sox released him in 2012.
Jenks ended up needing three back surgeries, became addicted to pain medication and slipped into depression and alcoholism.
The Globe reports Jenks is suing Wood for a botched double surgery in December 2011 that he believes ended his career.
The Globe also makes note that Red Sox principal owner and Boston Globe owner John Henry was a Mass. General Hospital trustee from 2005 to 2014.
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