Surgical Malpractice for Crohn's disease ? Posted: 06-11-07 16:46pm
My father had surgery last month for
Crohn's disease. He was recovering well,
but 8 days after the surgery the colon
came separated from the colostomy, and
waste was emptying into his abdominal
cavity. He was rushed back in for
emergency surgery to repair this. He
ultimately passed away from complications
related to that second surgery (sepsis and
pneumonia). I understand that unforeseen
circumstances can occur during the course
of surgery and the corresponding recovery,
but I was wondering if such an occurence
is common, or if it was could have been a
result of negligence on the part of the
surgeon during the initial surgery. From
my understanding, the connection between
the end of the descending colon and the
colostomy was supposed to be permanent.
Should this become detached after just
over a week? The medical review board at
the hospital where the surgery occured
concluded that there was no negligence on
the part of the surgeons, but I expected
nothing less when they're reviewing their
own surgeon. We're considering consulting
with a malpractice attorney, but I was
hoping to get another opinion or two on
these circumstances. Thank you.
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lani_n
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 7
Probably Not Malpractice Posted: 07-01-07 11:53am
Its difficult to say what happened from
the way you explain it. A colostomy is
where an end of the colon is brought
through the abdominal wall and sutured
there. So when you say the colon became
separated from the colostomy you must mean
either the colostomy failed and the end of
the colon sank back into the abdominal
cavity or a part of the colon was
anastomosed somewhere prior to the piece
of colon used to make the colostomy and
that the anastomosis came apart.
People who have taken longterm steroids
for Crohn's disease have a thinning of
their intestinal wall which makes it easy
for staples or stitches to tear through it
after surgery and you end up leaking
intestinal contents into your gut.
Steroids and/or immune suppressants used
for Crohn's disease also slow healing down
drastically, so its possible that the
stitches holding the colostomy to the
abdomen started to dissolve before the
intestine had healed to the abdominal skin
enough to hold it there (though the
stitches shouldn't have dissolved much in
8 days).
Unfortunately, infections can be deadly
for people with Crohn's who have been
suppressing their immune system for years.
I'm sorry for your loss. I was in an
identical situation with my fiance.
Luckily he came through the 2nd surgery
okay.
I would warn anyone considering surgery to
get completely off prednisone for a while
before your surgery.
