Medical Malpractice: Organ Puncture & Perforation

All surgeries carry some amount of risk, including surgeries inside a person’s abdominal cavity.  Even with excellent surgical care and state of the art equipment to minimize potential complications, not all surgeries go according to plan.  Surgeons may inadvertently cut or puncture an internal organ during surgery, which puts a patient at great risk.  If an intestine or bowel is cut during surgery, harmful materials can leak into the body cavity, and this bodily waste causes massive infection.  When such a mistake is made, the surgeon needs to take immediate action so that the error is rectified and further damage to the patient is limited.

Perforated or punctured internal organs can have severe or possibly even fatal outcomes.  Patients may require additional surgeries not just to correct the underlying problem but also to undo the surgical error.  Worse cases can result in lifelong harm or even death.

Common Symptoms

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms below after having undergone surgery, you should obtain medical help as soon as possible.  A bowel, colon, or other internal organ may have been nicked or punctured.

• Fever or chills
• Nausea or vomiting
• Pain in the abdominal area, hip or groin
• Severe bleeding or hemorrhaging

If a perforation, cut, or tear to the bowel or colon occurred during surgery, a serious infection called peritonitis can occur.  This infection can travel throughout the body after entering the bloodstream.  If this happens, it is called sepsis and if left untreated it can lead to death.  In order to treat an infection of the color prior to sepsis, an invasive colostomy will need to be performed.

A surgeon and his or her lawyers may claim that a surgical error was, while unfortunate, simply one of the risks that are inherent in any surgery.  If you or a loved one has been injured due to an organ puncture or perforation, you should contact an attorney to help you recover financial compensation for your injuries or losses.  An experienced medical malpractice attorney will thoroughly investigate the causes of the surgical error and show that your injuries resulted from negligence.  This may help the victim recover costs for additional surgeries and medical procedures, lost income, and other damages.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com .  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.