Catherine Henry Lawyers’ Health Law team settled a claim against a Local Area Health District (the defendant) for a client who suffered a perforated bowel following the failure of the defendant’s staff at two hospitals to promptly diagnose and treat our client’s developing bowel injury.
Our client was admitted to a hospital at 34 weeks and five days gestation with her third baby. She was considered to be a high-risk patient as this was her third baby and she had delivered her two other babies by caesarean section. She also had a complex surgical history.
Our client had to have an emergency caesarean section. She also had a bilateral tubal ligation.
Because of her complex surgical history, a general surgeon was called into the operation to inspect her bowel and dissected her small intestine off the anterior abdominal wall.
As the baby was premature, he was transferred to another hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Our client was also transferred to the other hospital to be with her baby.
Over the next few days, while the baby was in the NICU, our client developed a distended tender abdomen. She complained to the nursing staff and was administered analgesia; peppermint water and laxatives. An X-Ray was taken and she was reviewed by the surgical team. It was reported that she likely had a postoperative ileus (constipation) and that there was no clinical evidence of mechanical obstruction.
About 4 days later our client and her baby were transferred back to the hospital where she had the caesarean section and by this time, she was feeling very unwell and collapsed when she went to feed him in the nursery. She was rushed to the operating theatre and underwent an emergency laparotomy which revealed amongst other things, feculent peritonitis and a large abscess formation. She had an extensive abdominal washout performed and the formation of a temporary colostomy (an opening for the colon, or large intestine, through the abdomen). She was transferred to ICU postoperatively.
Our client has very little memory from the time she was admitted to the first hospital in pre-term labour until she awoke in the ICU some 10 days later and had no recollection of having had a baby when she was presented with her newborn in the ICU.
The colostomy was reversed about 12 months following the events outlined above.
Our case for justice and compensation
We used the opinions of an obstetrician, general and colorectal surgeons and other experts to prepare the case for our client against the local health district.
The obstetrician, general and colorectal surgeons all agreed that failure to diagnose a bowel perforation earlier was the cause of the feculent peritonitis and the resultant formation of a colostomy, and further, that the colostomy would have been avoided had the bowel injury been diagnosed at an earlier date.
Our client was assessed by other experts as well as a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); agoraphobia; and major depressive disorder as a result of the circumstances of the bowel perforation and its subsequent effects. Of note, the defendant’s psychiatrist who assessed our client (as is the usual course during these types of matters), largely agreed with the conclusions and recommendations of our psychiatrist.
We obtained damages for our client for the failure of the duty of care, the pain she suffered, and the ongoing consequences of the failure to diagnose a bowel perforation in a timely fashion.
How we can help you or your loved one
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Taking legal action can also help change health care practices and hold health care professionals to account so other people do not have to experience what you went through.
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