In a medical malpractice case, a jury awarded $9.2 million for various damages, including medical bills, funeral expenses, pain and suffering, and wrongful death of a 69-year-old male. The decedent was a retired truck driver and mechanic who remained active, working on transmissions and other mechanical tasks.
The patient had a routine physical where he was found to be anemic. A gastroenterologist performed a colonoscopy and endoscopy, discovering a 3 cm polyp in his small bowel. A biopsy revealed it was a benign duodenal adenoma, a pre-cancerous mass. A follow-up study to check the rest of the bowel failed to detect the polyp, providing a false negative. The patient was then referred a general surgeon. It was alleged that the surgeon did not review the follow-up study thoroughly nor did he order a CT scan, which experts later testified was necessary due to the size and unusual location of the polyp.
During the surgery, a 5.2 cm malignant mass was unexpectedly found, changing the procedure from polyp removal to cancer surgery. While removing lymph nodes, the surgeons mistakenly cut the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), a critical vessel supplying blood to the small bowel. This mistake, which allegedly should have been avoided by proper identification using ultrasound or dissection, led to severe complications. Vascular surgery was called to repair the SMA, but the prolonged blood flow disruption caused part of the bowel to die, hemorrhagic shock, and multi-system organ failure. The patient died 18 days later after enduring seven surgeries.
The defense claimed the cancer was undetectable before surgery and argued that a pre-surgery CT scan was not required by the standard of care. They also claimed that the surgical field’s complexity made it impossible to foresee the presence of the SMA in its unexpected location.
The jury’s decision highlighted the importance of thorough preparation and planning in medical procedures, emphasizing the devastating consequences of systemic failures and surgical errors.
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