Diverticulosis is a condition in which small pouches form in the wall of the colon, while diverticulitis occurs when those pouches become inflamed or infected and, in severe cases, can tear or rupture. When one of these pouches tear, it becomes a medical emergency because stool and bacteria can spill into the abdomen, causing severe infection. Patients often experience worsening abdominal pain, high fever, chills, nausea, and a rigid, tender abdomen.
Because a tear in the colon is a medical emergency, it requires prompt surgery and careful monitoring afterward to prevent life-threatening complications.
The surgery itself is not the end of the danger. In fact, some of the most serious complications can develop in the hours and days afterward if doctors are not closely monitoring their patients. When stool leaks into the abdomen, infection can spread quickly and become life-threatening if it is not promptly treated.
After removing the damaged portion of the bowel, surgeons often reconnect the two healthy ends of the intestine. If that surgical connection does not heal properly and begins to leak, stool and bacteria can spill into the abdomen and cause a severe, life-threatening infection. This is one of the most dangerous complications of bowel surgery and is considered a surgical emergency. Left untreated, it can quickly lead to sepsis, additional surgeries, and a cascade of serious complications.
The risk is well recognized, and the standard of care calls for watching closely for it. The warning signs include worsening abdominal pain, fever, rapid heart rate, and signs of infection in the days after surgery. When those signs appear, prompt evaluation and treatment are required. Timely recognition allows the leak to be controlled before it triggers the kind of downstream damage that becomes hard to reverse.
In this case, our client’s medical treatment was completely mishandled. The prolonged suffering that this negligence caused left our client with kidney injury, malnourishment, and she even suffered a stroke.
The Townsley Law Firm represented her and recovered a settlement of over $950,000.
An Anastomotic Leak Is a Complication That Cannot Be Missed
Our client had perforated diverticulitis, a condition in which a weakened pouch in her colon ruptured, allowing stool and bacteria to escape into her abdomen. Treatment was delayed, and the discharge instructions she was given were inadequate for a patient recovering from an abdominal emergency.
What followed was a cascade of preventable complications. She developed bowel obstruction and infection. She suffered a leak where her bowel had been surgically reconnected, which is one of the most dangerous complications of this type of surgery
Managing all of it required repeated operations. Along the way she sustained a kidney injury, became malnourished, and suffered a stroke that left her with lasting weakness on her left side.
Two failures stand out in this case. The delay in treatment meant that dangerous complications had time to develop and worsen before they were addressed. The inadequate discharge instructions meant our client was sent home without the guidance a recovering abdominal-surgery patient needs to recognize warning signs and get help quickly. Both failures removed chances of catching the problem early.
How One Untreated Complication Became Many
The most striking feature of this case is the mismanaged complication that multiplied into several devastating injuries.
The bowel obstruction and infection reflected a recovery that was not going as it should. The leak at the surgical connection in her bowel turned a difficult recovery into a series of medical emergencies, requiring repeated operations, each one carrying its own risks and toll on an already weakened patient.
The prolonged infection and repeated surgeries took a tremendous toll on her body. She suffered kidney injury, severe malnutrition, and most devastatingly, a stroke that left her with permanent weakness on the left side of her body.
A stroke and permanent disability are not expected outcomes of diverticulitis treatment. They are what can happen when serious complications are not recognized and treated in time.
Every missed opportunity to identify and treat her complications allowed the next complication to develop. What began as a treatable surgical emergency became a series of medical crises that permanently changed our client’s life.
