Sommers Schwartz attorney Kenneth Watkins filed a medical malpractice action on behalf of a 42-year-old woman who suffered severe bladder complications after undergoing a hysterectomy.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff had a known history of kidney stones and uterine fibroids pressing on her bladder. It was recommended that she undergo an outpatient laparoscopically-assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) to relieve her bladder issues and abnormal bleeding. After commencing the LAVH, the defendant surgeon opted to complete the procedure by means of an open vaginal procedure due to the large size of the uterus and suboptimal surgical visualization.

The suit alleges that the defendant injured the plaintiff’s right ureter during the LAVH, causing extreme kinking and leading to a ureteral perforation. A typical hysterectomy takes one to two hours; the plaintiff’s procedure lasted more than five hours, and she suffered pain, severe bladder problems, lack of sensation in the vaginal area, the need to self-catheterize to empty the bladder completely, and other post-surgical complications.

The surgical malpractice lawsuit asserts various claims of professional negligence, including, the choice to perform the LAVH procedure rather than an open vaginal laparotomy procedure, delay in repairing the plaintiff’s injured ureter, failure to conduct testing before surgery to confirm the size of the plaintiff’s enlarged uterus, and attempting to perform a laparoscopic posterior colpotomy that was contraindicated due to large fibroids.