Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this medical malpractice/personal injury case and its proceedings.)
une 28, 2005, Hemorrhagic Shock and Cardiac Arrest
On June 28th, Plaintiffs blood pressure again dropped. Right femoral and venous lines were placed in his groin by Dr. O’Connor. A third emergency surgery was performed by Dr. Brown and Dr. Garcia. A major hemoperitoneum was discovered with over five liters of blood intraperitoneally in the abdomen. It was not until the surgery on the 28th that Dr. Garcia and Dr. Brown finally discovered the source of bleeding, two totally separate injuries, a laceration at the posterior aspect of the aorticbifurcation and an associated kissing laceration of the left common iliac vein. The two lacerations were repaired and the abdomen was left open. These injuries were four to five centimeters away from the first series of injuries. Two days later, another laparotomy was performed and Plaintiffs abdomen was closed. These newly discovered injuries could have been caused from two separate events and certainly were caused by separate instrumentalities then that which lacerated Plaintiff’s iliac vein, mesentery, and small bowel on June 16th. As such, they are subject to two additional general damage recoveries, each in a separate amount not to exceed $250,000.
What was thought to be an outpatient procedure turned into a 35-day stay in ICU with multiple complications, two near death experiences and months of recuperation. Plaintiff was finally released from the hospital on July 21, 2005, totally disabled.
LIABILITY
Liability is clear. During the course of the cholecystectomy and the subsequent treatment by the defendants in this matter, Plaintiff sustained the following injuries: 1) laceration of the left iliac vein,
2) laceration of the mesentery, 3) small bowel perforation, 4) a posterior laceration of the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta, and 5)an anterior wall laceration of the left iliac vein. These iatrogenic injuries (instrument caused) do not occur absent someone’s negligence.
Although all the defendants in this case deny their own culpability for injuries to the aorta and adjoining iliac vein, each admits that all injuries were iatrogenic and they had to be caused by one of them. As set forth more fully in the motion filed concurrently herewith, Plaintiff is entitled to a res ipsa loquitur presumption and the burden must shift to the defendants to produce evidence that establishes they did not cause one, or any, of Plaintiff’s injuries. (See Part 5 of 7.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.