A total abdominal hysterectomy is the surgical removal of both the uterus and the cervix through an incision in the lower abdomen. This surgery requires specific post-operative recovery plans and, as with any major surgery, also involves potential risks.
The standard post-op protocol for a total abdominal hysterectomy involves an initial 2 to 3-day hospital stay followed by a 6 to 8-week recovery period at home. Care mainly focuses on pain management, preventing blood clots, monitoring incisions, and strict activity restrictions. Patients are encouraged to notify their physicians and seek emergency care if they experience heavy vaginal bleeding, a high fever, worsening severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath or chest pain; or redness, warmth, or heavy pus draining from the incision site.
If a patient’s post-operative care is not taken seriously, complications can occur. It is of the utmost importance that physicians take diligent care in observing a patient to prevent these complications and any further injury to the patient.
In this case, our client’s physician did not act within the standard post-operative procedure, leading to life-long injuries to our client. Due to medical negligence, our client suffered a below-the-knee amputation, an embolic stroke, kidney failure requiring dialysis, and permanent disability.
The Townsley Law Firm held the responsible parties accountable and recovered over $3,250,000 in a settlement on behalf of our client.
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A Timeline of Ignored Signals
On day two post procedure, our client was experiencing nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and bloating. Her labs showed a severely low white blood cell count, decreasing hematocrit and hemoglobin, and increasingly low blood pressure, paired with an elevated heart rate and temperature. The combination of these symptoms suggests the development of a serious problem and are not indicative of ordinary post-op discomfort.
The next day, our client was formally flagged as high-risk for thromboembolism, meaning high-risk for dangerous blood clots. Instead of aggressively pursuing clot prevention measures, her pneumatic compression devices were discontinued, and no anti-clotting medication was ordered.
During the post-operative period, she demonstrated multiple signs of clinical deterioration, including absent bowel sounds, increasing abdominal distention, elevated temperatures, low blood pressure, worsening kidney function, significant changes in her white blood cell count, and elevated band cells suggestive of a serious infectious or inflammatory process. Imaging studies suggested either a post-operative ileus or a partial small bowel obstruction. A surgical consultation concluded that she was experiencing a post-operative ileus, and a nasogastric tube was inserted. However, the claim alleges that her worsening condition was not adequately monitored or reassessed.
Despite continued abdominal distention, the inability to pass gas, dark green nasogastric drainage, and laboratory studies showing an increase in immature infection-fighting cells, the consulting surgeon reportedly advised the patient to chew gum in an effort to stimulate bowel function. After attempting to chew the gum, she gagged and vomited. No additional surgical follow-up was documented, and no further laboratory studies were obtained thereafter despite her continued clinical decline.
After a week in the hospital, post-surgery, our client was discharged. Less than 24 hours after discharge, she went back to the emergency room in septic shock, with acute renal failure and pneumatosis intestinalis – air in the wall of the small intestine, signaling a dying bowel.
At almost every step along the way, a different decision could have changed our client’s future. Time and again, opportunities were missed that could have prevented a lifetime of pain and suffering.
The Surgery That Revealed How Far It Had Gone
After being readmitted into the emergency room, our client underwent an emergency exploratory laparotomy. Before surgery began, she suffered a cardiac arrest. Surgeons found a severe infection in her pelvis and a blocked artery that was cutting off blood flow to her leg. She required medications to keep her blood pressure up, additional surgeries, and a transfer to another hospital for more specialized care.
She suffered septic shock, acute renal failure, rhabdomyolysis, bilateral compartment syndrome, embolic stroke, and severe vascular compromise to both lower extremities. She underwent bilateral fasciotomies, developed gangrene, required a below-knee amputation, hemodialysis, and numerous additional surgical procedures. She sustained permanent physical disabilities, cognitive impairment, severe depression, and ultimately required nursing home placement.
Why This Was Preventable
This case is not about one mistake. It is about multiple missed opportunities.
She was a high-risk patient for blood clots, yet no blood-thinning medication was ordered. She continued to develop worsening abdominal pain, vomiting, abdominal swelling, abnormal laboratory studies, and signs of infection. Despite over a liter of dark green stomach drainage and elevated bands suggesting a serious illness, no further laboratory studies were obtained and little additional intervention occurred.
Sending home a patient with elevated bands, dark green NG output, an unresolved bowel problem, and a still-abnormal lab picture, without ordering further studies, is a decision that ignored the data already in front of the care team. The signs of evolving bowel ischemia and sepsis were present before she walked out the door. The system had the information and still did not act on it.
The warning signs were not subtle, and they were not hidden. They were written on her chart, in her vital signs, in her lab results, in her imaging studies, and in her symptoms, for days. Our client suffered at the hands of negligent hospital staff and physicians who failed to follow proper procedures and ultimately caused her lifelong pain and injuries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue if serious symptoms were ignored after my surgery?
If your medical team had lab results and vital signs showing a developing complication and failed to investigate or act on them, and you were harmed as a result, that can be the basis of a malpractice claim. Documented abnormal findings that went unaddressed, like elevated bands or abnormal NG drainage, are often the strongest evidence, because they show the information was available and not acted upon.
What are “bands” on a lab report, and why do they matter?
Bands are immature white blood cells. When they rise, often called a “left shift,” it usually means the body is mounting an aggressive response to a serious infection. Elevated bands in a post-surgical patient are a recognized warning sign that should prompt further evaluation, not discharge. In this case, elevated bands were documented and no follow-up labs were ordered.
What is pneumatosis intestinalis?
It’s the presence of gas within the wall of the intestine, visible on imaging. In an acutely ill adult, it is an ominous finding that often indicates bowel ischemia, tissue that is dying from lack of blood flow. It is a surgical emergency, and its presence on her return to the ER showed how advanced her condition had become.
Why is stopping clot-prevention measures so serious in a high-risk patient?
Patients flagged as high-risk for thromboembolism are at elevated danger of forming dangerous blood clots. Pneumatic compression devices and anti-clotting medications are standard defenses. Removing those protections from a patient specifically identified as high-risk leaves the door open to exactly the kind of arterial clotting that, here, contributed to limb ischemia and amputation.
What kind of compensation is available for an amputation caused by medical negligence in Louisiana?
A patient may seek recovery for past and future medical care, lost earning capacity, prosthetics and lifelong assistive needs, physical pain, disfigurement and disability, and emotional harm. With injuries this severe and permanent, the future-care component is often the largest part of the claim. Louisiana caps certain malpractice damages, and an experienced attorney works to maximize recovery within those rules.
