WASHINGTON A 70-year-old man who underwent surgery on his colon won a 400,000-dollar malpractice settlement after doctors left a surgical towel in his small intestine for 73 days, AFP said. William Miller, a retired employee of the Shell Oil Company residing in Pasadena, Texas, complained of pain, and suffered "purulent drainage" in the wake of the May 18, 1998 operation to remove colon polyps, said Dallas Lawyer Ben Martin. Doctors at the University of Texas Md Anderson Cancer Center suspected something was awry after a cat scan detected a foreign body in Miller's intestine eight days after his surgery.