Settlement for Failure to Diagnose Bowel Perforation

When the bowel is perforated, it is torn or cut. Sometimes a perforation can result in the contents of the bowels spilling into a patient’s abdominal lining or abdomen, and this can be catastrophic for a patient and his or her family as bacteria may invade the organs and tissues around it. Sometimes sepsis results. If this happened to you, the outcome may be that you need further surgeries or need to wear a colostomy bag for the rest of your life. Sometimes a family member dies as the result of failure to diagnose bowel perforation. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys, our seasoned Syracuse medical malpractice lawyers understand that how challenging these situations are and we fight hard to obtain settlements for failure to diagnose bowel perforation. We have strong reputations for successfully obtaining the best available settlements from the responsible parties.

Bowels can become perforated when they are obstructed such that food can’t travel through the digestive tract, in the course of a trauma such as one inflicted in a car accident, or a botched surgery. Sometimes bowel obstructions or perforations are the result of diverticulitis, intestinal blockage, intestinal surgery, hysterectomy errors, or Crohn’s disease, or the improper diagnosis and handling of these conditions.

Bowel perforation requires immediate, competent medical care. If you were harmed by a doctor’s failure to diagnose a perforated bowel, you should seek legal counsel. Most people don’t have enough saved. When there is liability, we can fight for damages on your behalf, on a contingency fee basis. Liability exists where there is legal responsibility.

To prove liability, we would need to show: (1) the defendant owed you a professional duty of care, (2) departure from the professional duty of care, (3) the departure caused your injuries, and (4) actual damages. A failure to diagnose bowel perforation may be a breach of the professional duty of care. It could occur as the result of a doctor’s failure to take a history, failure to adequately respond to a symptom, or failure to conduct a differential diagnosis. When a bowel perforation is allowed to persist, with no corrective surgery or intravenous antibiotics provided, the resulting infection can cause serious harms for which damages should be sought.

In order to establish that a failure to diagnose a bowel perforation was medical malpractice for which damages are necessary, we will need to be able to establish liability. Often these cases turn into battles between the plaintiff and defendants’ experts. Our lawyers must meet certain procedural prerequisites to be able to file your case, such as consulting with an experienced credible expert and filing a certificate of merit with the court. Even after that certificate is filed, a defendant may avoid paying compensation. There may be anxieties around a hike in professional insurance rates, or a doctor unwilling to admit he acted inappropriately.

We may be able to work out a settlement informally with the defendant. More often, it becomes necessary to use a form of alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation. A mediation is a proceeding conducted by a neutral third party known as a mediator. Oftentimes, retired judges or other medical malpractice lawyers with significant experience serve as the mediator. When well-respected by both sides, a knowledgeable mediator may be able to show them weaknesses in their case that can get them to come to a compromise. For instance, if the defendant’s expert is one that is known to have credibility issues on the stand, this could affect whether the defendant is willing to settle.

When we are able to establish to the defendant’s satisfaction that the failure to diagnose bowel perforation was medical malpractice, we may be able to recover compensatory damages from the negligent parties on your behalf. These are damages intended to make you whole following your injuries and can include coverage for items such as lost wages, medical bills, out-of-pocket costs, emotional distress, replacement services, loss of enjoyment, and pain and suffering. In some cases, a defendant is unwilling to settle for a fair sum. It then becomes imperative to go to trial, and to have a lawyer on your side with significant trial experience and a strong reputation.

At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys, we represent patients harmed by failure to diagnose a bowel obstruction or bowel perforation in and near Syracuse, along with Canandaigua, Lowville, Auburn, Buffalo, Oneida, Utica, Rochester, Albany, Wampsville, Watertown, Herkimer, Oswego, Lyons, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Binghamton, Elmira, and all of Upstate New York. Please call us at 833-200-2000 or complete our online form.