74 year old dies from post-surgical complications
This past April, just prior to jury selection, WRSMH attorney settled for $450,000 the case of a 74 year old man who died from severe post-surgical complications from what was to be routine hernia surgery. Our client went in to the hospital for a laparoscopic ventral hernia repair. This "routine" surgery took over six hours to perform. He immediately had complications post operatively with confusion and a distended abdomen. An abdominal x-ray was done which showed problems with the small bowel. It wasn't until a week after the initial surgery that the surgeons perform a laparotomy only to find a perforated bowel. Unfortunately our client never recovered, and three months later, suffered a cardiac arrest and death. It was our position that the surgeons damaged the bowel during the initial surgery and failed to go back in when there were clear signs that our client had a perorated bowel. Unfortunately when they finally decided to go back and do further surgery our client lost any chance to survive the surgeon's malpractice. He was survived by his wife of fifty years.