do i have a mrdical reason to sue

[guestpost]

I had a smart lipo procedure done about 5 years ago. 2 weeks ago i had my gallbladder removed and the surgeon daid thete was a massive amount of scar tissue inside my gallbladder was fused to my stomach . When i had the smar lipo procedure done they rold me i may have scarring on the outside, they said nothing about the inside. Would i have reason to sue?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I had a smart lipo procedure done about 5 years ago. 2 weeks ago i had my gallbladder removed and the surgeon daid thete was a massive amount of scar tissue inside my gallbladder was fused to my stomach . When i had the smar lipo procedure done they rold me i may have scarring on the outside, they said nothing about the inside. Would i have reason to sue?

I don't hear any statement by your surgeon that the scar tissue had anything to do with negligence by the doctor who performed your liposuction procedure. Just because you developed scar tissue over the course of five years doesn't give you any reason to sue the doctor who performed the surgery. Why should it?

 

[guestpost]

Why should it? Because if I would have known, I would develop scar tissue like this, I would of never had the procedure done in the first place.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Why should it? Because if I would have known, I would develop scar tissue like this, I would of never had the procedure done in the first place.

Were you ever told of potential complications that could arise? As this is five years later, I'd say that you would probably have an extremely difficult case if you have one. You'd have to prove that the doctor failed to warn you about some of the complications that could arise. Now you don't recall ever being warned - but five years later is a long time. Any decent defense lawyer could easily claim that probably few would remember specific warnings they received many years after surgery. With regard to negligence in performing the surgery, I can't tell you but scar tissue is not so unusual as to make for an easy case pointing at a guaranteed case of medical malpractice, e.g. leaving instruments inside the body. I've been rather shocked how this has happened before but it does - and those are certain wins in court but not this.

I'm not sure what to tell you but I think that, if you have a case, it's weak at best.

 

[disagreeable]

Do you understand what lipo is? A wand was stuck into your body and shoved in and out, breaking up tissue and fat internally. Why would you not expect there to be internal scarring as everything healed?

 

[Proserpina]

And it is impossible to predict which patients will develop adhesions/scar tissue. Some patients can endure multiple major surgeries without ever having a problem; others (myself included) can develop severe problems after minor laparoscopic surgery.

There's just no way to tell. I see no case here at all.

 

[Proserpina]

(And ironically, patients who do suffer from adhesions sometimes elect to have another surgery to remove the adhesions....and guess what that leads to? More adhesions)