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ATTLEBORO - Robert Whitney said he never expected, when he chose Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez to perform laparascopic surgery to correct a hernia, it would be the beginning of years of severe pain and bleeding.

Complications from the routine procedure arose after a piece of surgical mesh was mistakenly sutured to his bladder.

"He ruined my life," said Whitney, a father of three who said it took five years of referrals, tests and prescription drugs before he found relief when a surgeon at a Boston hospital removed a suture from the dome of his bladder.

Whitney, a former employee of Sturdy Memorial Hospital who had his hernia procedure performed there by the doctor, said the medical error made it impossible for him to urinate without extreme pain. As a result, he lost 40 pounds and had to be medicated constantly with pain relievers and antibiotics.

He said medical complications and depression from the botched procedure destroyed his marriage and made it impossible to hold a job. "It was five years of hell," said Whitney, a heating and air conditioning technician, who with his wife, won a combined $425,000 verdict against Veizaga-Mendez, according to records on file at Taunton Superior Court.

Whitney sued both the doctor and Sturdy Memorial, although the portion of the lawsuit relating to the hospital was dismissed.

Whitney's story contrasts markedly with that of former cancer patient Marie Gallotello, 78, of Woonsocket, R.I., who credits Veizaga-Mendez with giving her a new lease on life by removing lymph glands from her body four years ago.

Gallotello said Viezaga-Mendez is a kind, generous doctor who sometimes provided patients free medical care.

"If I had to have surgery again, I wouldn't want anybody else," Gallotello said.

The two markedly different accounts represent different sides of the one-time Mansfield surgeon who is currently at the center of a national controversy involving nine deaths of patients at a Veterans Administration hospital in Marion, Ill., where Veizaga-Mendez worked until August.

Veizaga-Mendez agreed in 2006 not to practice in Massachusetts, where he currently faces allegations by the state medical board, including substandard care and failing to provide adequate information about malpractice cases in which he was involved.

Veterans Administration officials said they expect it could take up to two months to complete an investigation into the Illinois deaths.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Veizaga-Mendez had been involved in "aggressive, complex surgeries" for which the Marion health care facility was ill equipped.

Nine people died at the hospital in a six-month period, far more than the normal mortality rate of two patients for that amount of time. Veizaga-Mendez could not be reached for comment.

Whitney, who had previously undergone a successful hernia operation by the doctor in 1981 and selected him personally to perform the 1997 operation, said he was alarmed to learn of the investigation into the Illinois deaths.

"I feel so badly for all those families who are suffering," he said. "If I could, I'd go there and put my arms around them. I feel their pain."

According to court records, Whitney was operated on in 1997, but immediately complained of severe post-operative pain and bleeding in his urine. A short time later, an independent surgeon discovered that surgical mesh from the hernia repair had been sutured through the bladder.

However, when the sutures were removed, Whitney still felt no relief. He continued to feel debilitating pain and bleeding until 2001, when doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital operated to remove sutures from another location in his bladder.

Whitney said the relief was immediate, but the damage to his life was irreparable.

The court judgment, obtained with the help of North Attleboro attorney Byron Taylor, provided cold satisfaction.

"I'd give all the money back if it would bring my family back," said Whitney, who is now divorced.

Other Veizaga-Mendez patients, citing the generosity of and medical skill of a doctor they had come to rely on through nearly 30 years practice at Sturdy Memorial, say they are incensed that the physician's name is being spread across the front pages.

"It's appalling that you have taken him and discarded him in this way," one woman told a reporter after reading a story about the controversy in Wednesday's Sun Chronicle.

Gallotello, who said she continues to feel fine and is able to return to babysitting and other activities, said Veizaga-Mendez displayed compassion for patients.

"He was kind to me," she said. "He was kind to everybody."