Family of Woman Who Lived with Towel Inside Body Settles Lawsuit

CANTON, OH (AP) -- A settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an Ohio woman who lived seven years with a surgical towel inside her body.

A nearly two-week jury trial in Cleveland ended yesterday with a confidential settlement between the Cleveland Clinic and the family of Bonnie Valle (VAL'-ee).

Valle lived in Bolivar, south of Canton. She died in June 2002, a day after her 60th birthday, and donated her body to research.

During a dissection, a surgical cloth the size of a large hand towel was discovered behind her left lung.

Valle had had surgery for emphysema at the Cleveland Clinic in 1995. Clinic attorneys denied that the towel affected her health.

The judge dismissed claims against Valle's doctor.

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