Bowel Perforation & When Is It Negligence - written by Gurdeep Singh, Solicitor, Clinical Negligence
Bowel Perforation & When Is It Negligence
Bowel Perforation
The Gastrointestinal Tract runs from your throat to rectum. Therefore it encompasses your oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine (also know as your bowel). Bowel perforation is when a hole develops in your bowel wall. This is a medical emergency as the bowel contents in the abdominal cavity can cause infection, which can lead to sepsis and in turn death.
Causes of Bowel Perforation
Bowel perforation commonly occurs due to Gastrointestinal related conditions or disease, which may include:-
- Diverticulitis
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn’s disease
- Toxic megacolon
- Strangulated hernia
- Peptic ulcer disease
Bowel perforation can also occur due to trauma. The most common form of trauma that causes bowel perforation is when during abdominal surgery the surgeon accidently cuts the bowel. When a surgeon accidently cuts into the bowel this is not always negligence.
When is Bowel Perforation Negligent
In order for it to be negligence the Claimant must prove all of the following:-
- The Claimant was owed a duty of care by the hospital/surgeon. In medical negligence claims this is easily established due to the existence of the doctor – patient relationship;
- Breach of Duty of Care: the treatment that the Claimant received was substandard i.e. unacceptable; and
- Causation: as a result of the substandard treatment the Claimant suffered an injury.
Given that a surgeon accidently cutting the bowel is not always negligence, the Claimant must prove the surgeon failed to intra-operatively identify and repair the bowel perforation or post-operatively recognise and diagnose that the Claimant was suffering from a bowel perforation and repair the same in a timely manner.
Symptom of Bowel Perforation
Symptoms of bowel perforation include:-
- Severe abdominal pain
- Chills/fever
- Nausea
- Vomiting
Diagnosis and Treatment of a Bowel Perforation
When a bowel perforation is suspected an x-ray and a CT scan together with blood tests to look for signs of infection and blood loss will be used to confirm the diagnosis. Treatment is usually surgery to repair the bowel.
If you have suffered a bowel perforation during surgery, which resulted in a second surgery to repair the bowel perforation and believe that this was due to negligence, please contact us on 0161 873 2740 to discuss.
