Man wins lawsuit over towels left inside him by surgeons

An Ohio man has won a $275,000 settlement from the federal government because surgeons at a Veterans Administration hospital left two surgical towels inside him after a kidney operation, The Plain Dealer reports.

The towels -- measuring 14-by-11 inches -- were discovered after Robert Sanner, 47, of New Philadelphia, Ohio, underwent a CAT scan because of pain and discomfort days after the operation, the Cleveland newspaper says.

Because of the incident, the VA Medical Center in Cleveland has purchased a new system that uses radio frequency ID chips to keep track of sponges and other surgical equipment, the newspaper reports.