On March 21, 2024, a Baltimore medical malpractice jury returned its verdict in the amount of $4.5 million in favor of a woman who was 30-years-old when she underwent surgery on September 5, 2019 to remove her uterus to address her severe pain due to endometriosis. During the surgery, the surgeons mistakenly cut her ureter and failed to discover their error.
The Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the defendants failed to perform a procedure that would have identified the transected left ureter, and failed to perform testing that would have identified the unintended injury before discharging the woman from the hospital two days after the surgery, despite the woman suffering persistent pain and having nausea with vomiting.
It was not until another surgeon performed surgery on the woman in July 2020 at another hospital that the damage to her left ureter was discovered. Months later, the woman’s physicians determined that the ureter injury resulted in kidney damage that could not be repaired, resulting in necessary surgery to remove her left kidney: “Ms. Conrad suffered significant physical and emotional trauma. She will face a lifetime of pain and future monitoring to ensure the health of her remaining kidney.”
The woman’s Baltimore medical malpractice lawsuit further alleged that the defendants were negligent by prescribing estrogen therapy to treat menopause symptoms after her uterus was removed because estrogen therapy is known to speed up endometriosis, which was the condition for which the woman’s uterus was removed.
The Maryland medical malpractice jury awarded the woman compensatory damages in the amount of $500,000 for past and future medical expenses along with $4 million for noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering. Maryland’s cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases will result in the $4 million noneconomic damages award being reduced to just over $800,000.
A medical study published in 2012 entitled Ureteral Injury in Laparoscopic Gynecologic Surgery stated, in part: “When injury is suspected intraoperatively, approaches to investigate ureteral integrity include the use of intravenous dye injection or retrograde bladder/ureteral dye injection using indigo carmine or methylene blue, in addition to further surgical dissection of the ureter. Cystoscopy to assess urine efflux from the ureteral orifices, with or without ureteral catheterization, may also be employed but may not detect partial transection or thermal injury. In certain instances, intraoperative fluoroscopy with urography using a radio-opaque contrast agent may also be useful to characterize ureteral stricture, obstruction, or leak. Even when a high risk of ureteral injury is not suspected, some advocate the practice of universal cystoscopy during major gynecologic cases to improve injury detection … Prevention of injury can be achieved by careful attention to the location of the ureter at all times during the procedure. To this end, a solid foundation in pelvic anatomy will be an asset in surgeries where there is a distortion of the anatomy. Prophylactic ureteral stenting may be helpful in select circumstances, and intra- or postoperative evaluation should be undertaken whenever suspicion arises of potential ureteral damage. Knowledge of ureteral anatomy and familiarity with avenues for assessment throughout the operative process can empower a surgeon to prevent or reduce potential ureteral complications.”
If you or a loved one may have been injured (or worse) as a result of medical malpractice in Maryland, you should promptly find a Maryland medical malpractice lawyer who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a Maryland medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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