subject: Perforated Bowels Are Common Surgical Errors Doctors Rarely Take Responsibility For, A Virginia-Based Medical Malpractice Attorney Explains [print this page] Perforated Bowels Are Common Surgical Errors Doctors Rarely Take Responsibility For, A Virginia-Based Medical Malpractice Attorney Explains
Hernia repairs, hysterectomies and surgeries to remove cancer tumors from patients' colons, intestines and stomachs require cutting into the gut. Those surgeries can prove lifesaving, but they also put patients at risk for having delicate organs and structures cut by a mishandled scalpel, misapplied clamp or poorly aimed laser. Called perforated bowel injuries, these surgical errors are among the most common mistakes made in operating rooms.
Patients who suffer perforated bowels can experience internal bleeding, acute pain, vomiting and blood poisoning from waste matter leaking from their bladder or intestine. Some patients die from perforated bowels. Emergency surgery is almost always indicated for someone with this injury.
If a surgeon cuts your bowels, though, don't expect an admission of liability or an apology. Many doctors would rather quit practicing medicine than say, "I'm sorry. I made a terrible mistake."
What you are more likely to hear are excuses that shift the blame for the life-threatening injury to you as the patient. Two frequent reasons surgeons give for perforating a bowel are that the patient moved during surgery and that bowel perforation was a known and accepted risk of the procedure being performed.
Since almost every surgery that involves cutting into the gut is done while the patient is under complete sedation, the "patient moved" defense is a particularly weak one. People who receive total anesthesia almost never change position. That's the one of the points and benefits of providing complete sedation during surgery.
And while patients do assume some risk of adverse events such as infections when consenting to a surgical procedure, a skilled surgeon should be able to operate without causing what is essential a stab wound. Most surgeries in which patients suffer perforated bowels are standard procedures such as hysterectomies that surgeons all around the world perform hundreds, if not thousands, of time each day without harming patients.
Should you have your bowel cut by a poorly trained or negligent surgeon and hear either of those excuses, the best advice I can give is to not accept the doctor's account as the final word. Seek the opinion of another doctor who performs the same procedure and consult with a medical malpractice lawyer about your injury.
