A lawsuit in which a Bassett woman claimed that a surgeon left a boltlike object in her neck has reached a settlement outside of court.

Margaret Via, 70 at the time, sued Martinsville emergency surgeon Dr. Jack Seavy for $350,000 in September. She said that Seavy operated in October 2004 after she fell and hit her neck on a glass bedside table.

According to her lawsuit, a surgeon at Duke University operated on her in August 2005 and removed from her neck a bolt that had been part of the table.

Via's attorney, Daniel Frith, said Monday that the terms of the settlement are confidential. Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Clifford Weckstein signed an order Monday dismissing the case.

-- Mike Allen