Failed Myomectomy Prompts Malpractice Lawsuit

ByCody Porcoro

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Updated onNovember 1, 2017

Failed Myomectomy Prompts Malpractice Lawsuit

This case stems from a series of attempts to combat a woman’s severe uterine fibroids. A mother of two, she had to undergo a laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy after previously having a myomectomy to combat her history of uterine fibroids and endometriosis. Though the hysterectomy was ordered due to her chronic abdominal pain, she continued to experience discomfort after the procedure. After she began to develop signs of breakdown of the vaginal cuff and extravasation into the pelvis, she was taken to the operating room where it became evident that her lower abdominal wall was infected, and that she had sustained a severe rectal injury with an associated thick-walled abscess cavity. A diversion colostomy was created to aid healing, and she remained hospitalized for over two weeks due to recurrent abscesses and prolonged recovery. At the time of her medical malpractice suit against her surgeon, the patient was still experiencing gastrointestinal abnormalities and requested a gynecologist to testify about the abnormality of her procedure.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Do you routinely treat patients like the one described above?

2. Based on the brief summary, what do you believe was the likely mechanism of injury?

Expert Witness Response E-007646

inline imageI routinely treat patients similar to the one described in this case and have a large clinical practice that accepts and manages this type of complication for most of the neighboring hospitals. Based on the information provided, the injury most likely occurred intraoperatively.

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