Kentucky Woman Says Dentist Dropped Tool Down Throat

A Kentucky woman is suing a dentist, accusing him of dropping a small screwdriver down her throat that migrated to her digestive tract and later required surgery to remove.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Fayette Circuit Court in Lexington by 71-year-old Lena David of Nicholasville. David claims Dr. W.B. Galbreath told her to try to regurgitate the screwdriver and then sent her for X-rays when that did not work.

Galbreath did not return a message left at his office Friday by The Associated Press.

The lawsuit says that the X-rays showed the screwdriver in David’s stomach, and that the dentist discharged her with instructions to “eat a diet high in fiber.”

In June 2011, about a month after swallowing the screwdriver, David checked into a hospital with abdominal pain and had to have the screwdriver removed.