Type of Case: Medical Malpractice
Injuries alleged: Transection of right ureter and bladder perforation with resulting kidney damage, including loss of kidney function and possible kidney transplant as well as urinary incontinence. These injuries occurred during an open hysterectomy. The injuries were not appreciated by the defendant surgeon intraoperatively.
Special Damages: $237,395.73
Verdict: Case settled confidentially for $1 million
Attorney(s): Philip S. Marstiller, Jr, Esq. & Edward J. McNelis, III, Esq.
Summary: Plaintiff was a 46-year-old woman who was experiencing menorrhagia and was diagnosed with uterine fibroids. The defendant, a gynecological surgeon, recommended plaintiff undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy. During the procedure, the defendant transected plaintiff’s right ureter and also mistakenly sutured her bladder wall to the vaginal cuff, causing a complete perforation of plaintiff’s bladder. Importantly, the defendant failed to recognize the transected ureter or bladder perforation intra-operatively. Several days after the surgery, the plaintiff went to the emergency room where she reported leaking from her surgical incision. On exam the plaintiff was noted to have a distended abdomen and hypoactive bowel sounds. A CT found showed 4 cm of fluid collected in her right posterior pelvis and air in the bladder. Upon being advised of these findings by the ED physician, the defendant ordered plaintiff to be admitted for an exploratory procedure to be performed the following morning with a urologist. The following morning the defendant was advised that there was no on-call urologist available at that hospital. The defendant ordered a transfer to another hospital for a urologic repair of the damage. At the receiving facility diagnostic testing revealed perforation of the right posterior bladder wall. Plaintiff underwent repair surgery with a urologist and a urological oncologist. The surgeons confirmed that the defendant had sutured the bladder wall to the vaginal cuff, that the defendant had transected the right ureter and had further created multiple perforations in the bladder during the total hysterectomy. Although these injuries were repaired, the plaintiff had a long and protracted recovery with multiple episodes of ureteral obstruction and kidney infections. She still suffers with urinary frequency, urgency and leakage, and may have to undergo a nephrectomy in the future. Plaintiff’s designated experts opined that the defendant breached the standard of care by causing such extensive damage to plaintiff’s bladder and ureters and from failing to recognize the bladder injuries intraoperatively. They further opined that intraoperative repair of the injuries by a urologist would have avoided the short and long-term morbidity the plaintiff experienced. The case was resolved before experts were designated.