Lawyer's Weekly "Verdicts & Settlements" Publications:
Man Died From Abdominal Bleed
Doctors Thought Colon Was Source
$500,000 Settlement
The family of a Warren County man sued his doctors for medical malpractice, claiming that he died because they failed to diagnose the source of abdominal bleeding.
In 1990 Jack Wiggins, 58, suffered a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and his doctors repaired it with a bypass graft. It was later determined that the graft became infected and a portion of the graft was replaced.
In 1998 Wiggins began to experience abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. He was taken to Audrain County Medical Center and referred to Dr. Peter Perll, a general and vascular surgeon. Dr. Perll scheduled a colonoscopy for May 18. While preparing for the procedure at home, Wiggins had bloody stools and felt light-headed. He was taken to the emergency room and a colonoscopy and endoscopy were performed. The tests did not reveal the source of Wiggins' bleeding.
Wiggins asked Dr. Perll if the bleeding could be related to the prior aneurysm because his pain symptoms felt similar. Dr. Perll indicated that he did not believe this to be the case and told Wiggins to return to the office in six months for follow-up.
On June 20 Wiggins was again taken to Audrain after a blood loss. Dr. James Northern, a radiologist, determined that radiology tests showed the colon as the probable source of the bleeding. Dr. Perll performed another colonoscopy, but still was unable to locate the source of the bleeding. Several days later, Wiggins had a colectomy performed by Dr. Perll and Dr. Joseph Corrado, another surgeon. No source for the bleeding was found. Dr. Perll then left on vacation, leaving Wiggins in the care of Dr. Corrado.
On June 30, Wiggins had another rectal bleed, resulting in weakness, dizziness and sweating. Dr. Corrado performed another exam which failed to reveal the source of the bleeding. Dr. Corrado then informed the family that he would be out of town for the Fourth of July weekend and that they should contact the hospital's on-call surgeon if any problems occurred.
Wiggins' family requested that he be transferred to Boone County Hospital in Columbia. In preparation for the transfer, Wiggins' family physician contacted Dr. Walter Peters, a general surgeon at Boone County. Dr. Peters immediately suspected the bleeding was related to the aortic repair. He and a gastroenterologist were waiting for Wiggins when he arrived at Boone County.
As Wiggins was discussing his medical history with the doctors, he bagan to vomit blood and went into cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated and rushed into surgery. Surgeons found a "well-formed fistula," a tube of tissue that allowed blood to flow directly from Wiggins' aorta into his colon. After losing an excessive amount of blood, Wiggins died during surgery.
The Wiggins family claimed that Dr. Perll and Dr. Corrado failed to properly diagnose the source fo the bleeding and did not investigate the aortic repair. They said the doctors should have ruled out the aortic repair as the source of the bleeding and should not have perfomred the colon operation, as there was no evidence that the colon was damaged. They also said Dr. Perll failed to examine the radiology films himself and instead relied on reports by Dr. Northern.
The family also claimed that Dr. Northern did not conduct the test properly, grossly misinterpreted the radiology scans and mislead the surgeons.
The defendants argued that Wiggins' condition was rare, even after an aortic repair, and that even if they had diagnosed his condition his survival rate would have only been 50 percent. Dr. Perll said that he did not need to examine the films because he trusted Dr. Northern and he felt uncomfortable looking at those types of films.
The parties reached a $500,000 settlement before trial. ~ Reprinted here from Missouri Lawyer's Weekly, 2003