A long and rocky course of recovery: Gastric bypass surgical error lawsuit

Mary Larson was very overweight, and had gastric bypass surgery to reduce her appetite. The surgery itself went well.

But after the operation, the connection linkng the small intestine to the pouch created to limit food intake (the anastomosis) began to leak.

Eight days after the surgery, she was in critical condition. The same surgeon performed emergency surgery, and irrigated and cleaned the area, but did not repair the leak. The surgeon then transferred her to a long-term care facility without a plan to follow her or have another surgeon follow up on her progress. Later transferred to another hospital, she underwent several more operations and endured a long and rocky course of recovery.

She filed a lawsuit, saying the surgeon failed to diagnose and treat the leak and the resulting peritonitis, despite her "constellation of symptoms." They asked the judge to add the medical center as a defendant, saying it had granted privileges to the surgeon though he lacked appropriate training and board certification, and had a history of malpractice claims and restrictions on his practice. The question of whether the medical center was negligent in credentialing the surgeon has reached the Minnesota Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Mary has been recovering.

Advice: Check out the experience and qualifications of your doctor.

Read another of our gastric bypass stories, or read Wayne Guglielmo’s source story in the May 4 issue of Medical Economics.