$1.0 Million Settlement Against Hospital Emergency Room For Failing To Treat Complications From Gastric Bypass Surgery

A 28 year old woman with a history of gastric bypass surgery and revision bypass surgery presented to a hospital emergency department with severe abdominal pain. The emergency room physician performed no medical tests , diagnosed her with an ovarian cyst, and discharged her. Her pain continued to worsen prompting her husband to take her to a second hospital's emergency department where she collapsed on arrival. Emergency surgery was performed which revealed that the area in her bowel which had been revised had ruptured causing a massive infection. She died from sepsis. A civil action was brought against the first hospital's emergency department for failing to properly investigate, diagnose and treat the rupture The case settled for $1 million dollars.