A woman who developed urinary incontinence after undergoing gynecological surgery performed by a doctor who misstated his credentials agreed to a $2 million settlement in her Morris County suit, McMillan v. Littman, on Oct. 30.

Kaitlyn McMillan underwent surgery for a prolapse of the urethra at Specialty Surgery Center in Sparta. Her surgeon, Paul Littman, used a resectoscope to remove most of the urethra after discovering that it had a stricture, said her attorney, Paul da Costa of Snyder Sarno D’Aniello Maceri & da Costa in Roseland.

After the procedure, McMillan suffered urinary incontinence and urinary tract infections, the suit claimed. She underwent multiple procedures to reconstruct her urethra but without success, and now she uses a self-catheter to urinate through a stoma in her abdomen, according to da Costa.

Littman claimed he had completed a fellowship in urogynecology but he left that four-year program after three years, da Costa said. McMillan filed suit against Littman, claiming he deviated from acceptable standards of care by performing an excision of a urethral stricture.

The plaintiff experts opined that the stricture removed by Littman was asymptomatic, and no treatment was warranted, da Costa said. The plaintiff also argued that Littman failed to disclose the risk and potential complications of the procedure. Littman said at a deposition that his initial plan did not call for resection of the urethra or use of a resectoscope, and he had never used a resectoscope without supervision, da Costa said.

McMillan, now 23, also sued Specialty Surgical Center, the facility where the operation took place, and two of its adminstrators: physician Donald Mykulak and registered nurse Bonnie Brady. McMillan claimed Mykulak and Brady were negligent in granting credentials and privileges to Littman and failing to discover that he falsified his urogynecology fellowship credential, daCosta said.

The parties agreed to the $2 million settlement after the close of discovery and prior to trial. Littman will pay $1 million toward the settlement, and the surgery center, Mykulak and Brady will jointly pay the other $1 million, da Costa said. The agreement also calls for a “cease and desist” clause in which Littman agrees not to represent himself as having completed fellowship training in urogynecology, daCosta said.

Littman was represented by Craig Combs of Giblin, Combs, Schwartz, Cunningham & Scarpa in Morristown, who has since died. Another attorney at the firm who was involved in the settlement, Christina Scarpa, did not return a call.

Mykulak and the surgery center were represented by Kenneth Brown of Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby in Bedminster, and Brady’s lawyer was Matthew Corso of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in Princeton. They did not return calls about the case.