Articles Posted in Gastroenterology errors

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Darren Vines, 48, was a corrections officer when he suffered a concussion after being beaten in a workplace attack. One week later, he underwent a procedure to remove food from his throat. He later vomited blood and went to a hospital emergency department. A gastroenterologist, Dr. Aaron Greenspan, performed a second surgical procedure to investigate his condition and reported an esophageal tear.

At the start of this second procedure, a nurse anesthetist noted the presence of blood in Vines’ stomach. The nurse asked Dr. Greenspan three or four times to convert to general anesthesia and allow Vines to have a breathing tube. Dr. Greenspan refused.

Vines aspirated his stomach contents and went into respiratory and cardiac distress. He suffered hypoxia, which left him with significant memory deficits for six months.
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Mr. Doe had a family history of colon cancer. He also had a personal history of ulcerative colitis. He underwent regular colonoscopies.

In 2016, one of the pathology specimens collected during his colonoscopy found to be “indefinite dysplasia.” Dysplasia describes the presence of abnormal cells within a tissue or organ. Dysplasia is not cancer, but it may sometimes become cancer.

Mr. Doe’s treating gastroenterologist allegedly did not note this condition, dysplasia, in his record. Mr. Doe later received a letter indicating his results were normal. He then received a form letter stating that he was due for a repeat colonoscopy in 2019, but this was never done.
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Hansaben Patel, 74, was hospitalized and diagnosed as having uncontrolled diabetes and an electrolyte imbalance. While hospitalized, Patel’s hemoglobin dropped.

A gastroenterologist, Dr. Fadi Deeb, diagnosed a duodenal ulcer and prescribed proton pump inhibitors. Patel suffered two large bleeds and was then transferred to the facility’s ICU.

After a third massive bleed, Dr. Deeb performed surgery. It was unsuccessful in stopping Patel’s bleeding. Before scheduled embolization by an interventional radiologist, Patel vomited and aspirated blood.
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A Texas Appellate Court has held that a trial court had not erred in denying a defendant’s motion to dismiss based on a plaintiff expert physician’s failure to perform the procedure at issue in the case within the last 20 years.

Alice Waggoner sued physician Dr. Carl Jones, maintaining that he breached the standard of care by performing an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) before running another noninvasive test to determine whether an ERCP was necessary.

Under Texas law, the plaintiff served the defendant with an expert report by Dr. Perry Hookman, a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and gastroenterology.
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Vincent Minor was 28 years old when he underwent gastric bypass surgery. He developed an obstruction, which caused his stomach contents to back up above his lap band. During the surgery to remove the lap band, he began vomiting and aspirated vomit.

He later developed pneumonitis and acute respiratory distress syndrome and remained in a vegetative state until he passed away a month later. Minor was survived by his parents and two siblings.

The Minor family sued Dr. Joyce Hairston, the treating anesthesiologist, alleging that she had chosen not to place a nasogastric tube and failed to evacuate Minor’s stomach contents before intubating him. The lawsuit did not claim lost income.
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Ms. Doe, age 67, underwent elective laparoscopic hiatal hernia repair surgery. The procedure was completed by Dr. Roe, a surgeon, along with a nurse’s assistance. During the surgery, Dr. Roe used a tack applier to secure surgical mesh needed to patch an opening in Ms. Doe’s diaphragm.

The next day, Ms. Doe suffered atrial fibrillation and a rapid heartbeat. Ms. Doe coded that night and, despite extensive resuscitative efforts, she died.

Ms. Doe was survived by her husband and two adult children.
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The plaintiff, Stephan Urbaniak,was prescribed and took a drug called Reglan for six years. He developed severe movement disorders. The prescribing physician, Dr. John Ross, admits that he was unaware of the risk of developing these movement disorders from long-term use of this prescription drug.

By operation of the “learned intermediary doctrine,” the pharmacy cannot be held liable for choosing not to verbally warn the plaintiff or his physician about the medical risks associated with long-term use of Reglan.

There is no specific reason that the pharmacy could have known about that, which would have made plaintiff specifically someone who could not be treated with Reglan longer than 12 weeks.
Accordingly, the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the dismissal of the lawsuit against the pharmacy and physician.
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