For three years, a patient endured pain and discomfort after she had surgery in Illinois for an abdominal hernia. Even though the discomfort started shortly after the woman’s surgery and persisted for several years, doctors could not pinpoint what was causing the woman’s extreme pain.
Last year, the woman finally found a doctor who was able to figure out what was causing the woman’s discomfort. The doctor informed the patient that the staples that had been used during her stomach surgery were the cause of her pain. The woman never even knew that doctors had used staples during her operation.
The patient is now filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor who performed the surgery and another doctor who failed to figure out what was causing the patient to suffer severe pain after the operation.
According to the lawsuit, a doctor performed the stomach operation in May 2008. While repairing the patient’s hernia, the doctor allegedly used surgical staples to secure mesh inside the woman’s abdomen. However, the patient claims that the type of surgical mesh the doctor had used during the operation did not require staples. She claims that she was never informed that staples were being used during her operation.
Without knowing that staples had been used, the patient never thought to consider that the staples were causing her to experience abdominal pain after the surgery. When the woman complained about the pain to her doctor who had performed the operation, her doctor should have known to remove the staples. Instead, her doctor and another doctor she had visited over the years could not diagnose the source of the patient’s pain.
Finally, a third doctor was able to quickly explain the problem to the patient. In August 2011, the woman underwent another operation to have the staples removed. Her symptoms have since improved.
When Chicago patients are certain that they are experiencing symptoms that are not normal, they must be persistent when working with their doctors in order to make sure their doctors are taking all necessary steps to diagnose a patient’s symptoms. When patients believe that their doctors are not providing quality care, they should make sure that they get a second or even a third opinion from another health care professional.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Surgical staples caused pain, med mal complaint alleges,” Andrea Dearden, Sept. 4, 2012
- Our firm represents patients and their families who have been harmed by medical negligence matters that stem from events such as those described in this post. To learn more about our firm and practice, please visit our Chicago surgical errors attorneys page.
