A Bassett woman has sued a Martinsville emergency surgeon for $350,000, claiming he left a bolt-like object from a table inside her neck when he closed a wound.

In the lawsuit, filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Margaret Via, 70, alleged that on Oct. 5, 2004, she fell in her bedroom and hit a glass bedside table with her neck. She was taken to Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County, where a surgeon sewed up a wound on her neck, the suit states.

After the incident, Via began having pain in her neck and arms. On Aug. 29, 2005, a doctor at Duke University operated on Via's neck and removed an object, according to the suit. A report from the Duke surgeon filed with the lawsuit describes the object as "helmet shaped," 1.5 centimeters in diameter, with screw threads.

The lawsuit alleges that the bolt was part of the glass bedside table.

The suit identifies Dr. Jack Seavy as the surgeon who operated on Via in October 2004. Seavy could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

-- Mike Allen