What Happened
Our Virginia medical malpractice client was a 45-year-old woman who suffered a serious injury while undergoing surgery to remove her ovaries. Her OB/GYN had found a small mass on one of her ovaries and recommended that she have both taken out to reduce her risks for future health problems like cancer.
The same doctor performed the laparoscopic procedure, making a small incision in our client’s abdomen and using a camera to guide his instruments to the ovaries. This type of surgery allows a patient to recover quicker, but it can restrict the surgeon’s view of other organs.
The surgeon did not notice hitting and cutting one of our client’s ureters, which are the ducts that connect the kidneys to the bladder. Multiple corrective surgeries were required to repair the damaged ureter, and our medical malpractice client suffered significant pain for several months.
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Key Legal Strategy
Our Virginia medical malpractice attorney focused on showing that the OB/GYN should have been able to see the location of the ureter he cut. The woman’s uterus had been removed years before she underwent the surgery to have her ovaries taken out. This rendered the locations of the other structures in her abdominal cavity easier to visualize.
Concentrating on this situation convinced the doctor’s medical malpractice insurance company that its policyholder would be found negligent at trial. Consequently, the company agreed to settle all injury claims for a confidential sum that our client found fair and sufficient.
Surgeons have high legal duties to protect patients, but proving medical malpractice is often difficult. Reviewing our client’s whole health history allowed us to show that her OB/GYN should have been able to avoid making the mistake that left her badly injured and needing multiple corrective surgeries.