It has been reported that in December 2023, a Michigan medical malpractice wrongful death confidential settlement was reached in the amount of $1.975 million for a 57-year-old woman who died as a result of the failure to locate and repair a bowel perforation during and after an Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography {“ERCP”) procedure that she underwent to diagnose and treat her abdominal pain. The defendants were a gastroenterologist, a general surgeon, a radiologist, two internists, and their respective employers.
The Michigan medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the defendant gastroenterologist negligently performed the ERCP using poor radiologic guidance while employing a high-risk technique with blind utilization of a needle knife to enter the common bile duct. The gastroenterologist’s alleged negligence resulted in a perforation of the woman’s bowel, and he was also alleged to have negligently failed to recognize the perforation during the procedure.
Intraoperatively and postoperatively, the woman became hypotensive and was clinically unstable. She was given repeated doses of neo-synephrine and ultimately placed on a vasopressor drip to manage her hypotension. The Michigan medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit alleged that despite the woman’s deteriorating medical condtion, the defendants failed to timely diagnose that her bowel had been perforated during the ERCP: despite two chest X-rays that revealed free air, the defendant radiologist allegedly failed to report the free air. The lawsuit further alleged that the defendant gastroenterologist and defendant general surgeon failed to order a CT scan with oral contrast or methylene blue through a nasogastric tube, which would have led to the diagnosis of the bowel perforation. The defendant general surgeon was also alleged to have failed to convert the laparoscopy to a laparotomy when the laparoscopy did not identify the perforation. The woman subsequently died from sepsis and multiple organ failure caused by the bowel perforation.
Perforations During ERCP
ERCP-related perforations are severe adverse events with low incidence (0.7%) and high mortality rate up to 20%. Death after ERCP-related perforations is most frequently reported to be around 10%, but mortality as high as 36% has been presented. Late recognition of a perforation and the failure to adequately treat a perforation appear to worsen the outcome. Malignancy, age over 80 years, and sphincterotomy in the pancreatic duct increase the risk to die after a perforation.
In a Swedish study, there was a high rate of comorbidity in the 62 patients in the fatal group with reviewed patient records, 79% had malignancy and cardiovascular disease was present in 42%. In this group, only 23 of 62 procedures (37%) were successful.
If you or a loved one may have been injured (or worse) as a result of medical malpractice in Michigan or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Michigan medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical negligence claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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