Case Report: Negligent inversion of Roux limb during gastric bypass
(Excerpts taken with permission from Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association's (MTLA) "Minnesota Case Reports")
In August 2005, Jane Doe, age 59, underwent an open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure. During the procedure, the surgeon was supposed to connect the proximal jejunum to the small pouch created by the surgeon. The surgeon here, however, connected the distal jejunum to the pouch, creating an antiperistaltic limb. This meant that most everything ingested by the patient would move up instead of down the GI tract.
During the next four months, Doe suffered persistent vomiting and was hospitalized for much of that time. An exploratory surgery performed by the surgeon failed to identify the inverted limb. Ultimately, after the surgeon suggested that Doe had psychological problems and was forcing herself to vomit, Doe sought a second opinion from the Mayo Clinic. A Mayo surgeon diagnosed and surgically corrected the inverted limb. Doe has made a complete recovery.
At the time of incident, Doe was a retired widow working 15 hours per week in the local high school cafeteria. She has returned to work. Her medical bills of $250,000 were paid by a self-funded ERISA plan that sought full reimbursement. Under Iowa law, however, a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case cannot recover medical bills paid by a health insurer. Because no court had decided whether the health insurer’s rights under federal law would preempt Iowa law on this issue, both the liability insurer and health insurer compromised on the issue of whether medical bills were recoverable in this case.
Settlement: | $650,000 |
| Case Name: | Doe v. Surgeon and Surgical Group |
| Date: | April, 2007 |
| Attorney: | William J. Maddix
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