Woman Sues; Claims She Lost ‘Psychic’ Ability to Block Pain

A medical secretary who watched a doctor saw a woman’s toe bone without anesthesia testified Friday at the woman’s psychic injury trial that the patient showed no sign of pain and even gave “the thumbs-up sign.”

Mindy Schlosser told a jury that she watched Dr. Sheldon Willens perform the office operation on the little toe of Penny Pellito’s left foot on July 18, 1985.

“I could hear the instrument cutting the bone and, at the same time, she was giving me the thumbs-up sign,” Schlosser said. She said the 52-year-old Miramar woman was not given an anesthetic.

Pellito filed a personal injury suit seeking unspecified damages from a Hollywood Home Depot store. She claims that she lost her pain-blocking ability when she was struck on the head by three eight-foot planks at the hardware store in April, 1987.

Pellito claims that Home Depot is responsible for the accident that ended her pain-blocking abilities because it stacked the wood unsafely. Home Depot denies the allegations and Pellito’s claims of having paranormal powers.

If Pellito is awarded damages, it will be the first time anyone has won damages for a psychic injury, lawyers said.

Willens testified Thursday that he had removed the enlarged bone from Pellito’s toe without anesthesia and watched doctors perform two other unrelated operations on the woman, also without painkillers.

Willens has said the woman’s ability to shut off pain was “something out of this world.”