Type of Case: Medical Malpractice
Name of Mediator: Thomas S. Shadrick
Attorneys: William Kilduff, and Christopher L. Spinelli, Richmond
The plaintiff underwent a laparoscopic lower anterior resection of the colon to remove a cancerous lesion in 2014. However the defendant surgeon and surgical assistant attached the colon to the plaintiff’s vagina, rather than properly to the plaintiff’s rectum. During the period of time from the surgery, through the repair surgery that was performed 10 days later, the plaintiff was unable to defecate through her rectum, but was passing feces through her vagina. The repair procedure performed was a laparoscopic colovaginal fistula take-down, a laparoscopic splenic flexure mobilization and a loop ileostomy. The ileostomy pouch on the outside of the plaintiff’s body had to be replaced frequently, and she required help from home health care nurses from her discharge more than a month later. During that period of time, the home health care notes reflected that the plaintiff was at times extremely emotional.