Kenneth D. St. Pé established medical malpractice liability in a complex surgical complication case involving an 86-year-old patient who suffered a ruptured gangrenous gallbladder (tissue death and perforation of the organ due to severe inflammation), systemic sepsis (a life-threatening bodily response to an infection), and multi-organ failure following a delayed diagnosis of acute cholecystitis (sudden, severe inflammation of the gallbladder) after an unrelated hip surgery in Louisiana.
Case Profile
- The Claimant: Vulnerable Adult / Post-Operative Patient (86-year-old female who was fully independent, driving, and active prior to hospitalization).
- The Defendant: Regional Medical Center & Attending Hospitalist Physician in Louisiana.
- Incident Dynamics:
- Failure to Consider Known Post-Operative Risks: Failure of the attending physician to include acute cholecystitis in his differential diagnosis after the patient presented with severe right upper abdominal pain following hip surgery, misattributing symptoms to muscle strain.
- 24-Hour Delay in STAT Diagnostic Testing: Extreme breakdown in hospital operations where a STAT CT scan ordered at 3:15 PM on March 18 was delayed for nearly 24 hours and not performed until 2:53 PM on March 19.
- Nursing Assessment & Communication Failures: Failure of hospital nursing staff to document, monitor, or notify the attending physician of dark brown emesis (vomiting), level-10 abdominal pain, and severe jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes) over a 12-hour overnight period.
- Injuries & Medical Taxonomy:
- Acute Cholecystitis: Sudden, severe inflammation of the gallbladder, a recognized complication following major surgery and fasting.
- Ruptured Gangrenous Gallbladder: Perforation of the gallbladder caused by tissue necrosis (tissue death) due to untreated pressure and infection.
- Systemic Sepsis & Multi-Organ Failure: A critical, organ-damaging systemic response to abdominal infection that caused respiratory failure, acute renal failure (kidney failure), liver failure, and acute pancreatitis (severe inflammation of the pancreas).
- Ascites & Atelectasis: Ascites (fluid buildup in the abdomen) and compressive atelectasis (partial collapse of the lungs) caused by abdominal infection and swelling.
- Fatal Outcome: Systemic septic shock and organ collapse ultimately resulting in the patient’s death.
- Jurisdictional Basis: Louisiana Patients’ Compensation Fund (PCF) / State of Louisiana.
Regulatory Breaches & Standard of Care Violations
The lawsuit established multiple direct breaches of accepted medical standards and hospital clinical protocols:
- Failure to Maintain Appropriate Differential Diagnosis: The attending physician failed to exercise the standard of care by failing to include acute cholecystitis in his differential diagnosis when presented with post-operative right upper quadrant abdominal pain and nausea, despite medical literature establishing post-operative cholecystitis as a known surgical complication since the late 1940s.
- Failure to Timely Execute STAT Diagnostic Orders: Hospital staff breached the standard of care by delaying a STAT abdominal CT scan for nearly 24 hours. A STAT order requires immediate execution; the delay prevented timely surgical intervention before gallbladder perforation occurred.
- Nursing Failure to Monitor, Chart, and Escalate Critical Symptoms: Frontline nursing staff failed to accurately observe, record, and report significant changes in condition—including repeated brown-tinged emesis, severe level-10 pain, and visible jaundice—leaving the attending physician uninformed of the patient’s rapid deterioration over a 12-hour period.
Consult a Board-Certified Medical Malpractice Attorney in Lafayette
If you or a family member has suffered severe harm, organ rupture, or wrongful death due to a delayed medical diagnosis or delayed emergency testing in a hospital setting, contact our Lafayette office.
Kenneth D. St. Pé is an AV Preeminent, board-certified medical malpractice attorney with extensive experience holding negligent hospitals and medical providers accountable across Louisiana.
- Office Address: 700 St. John Street, Suite 401, Lafayette, LA 70501
- Direct Line: 337-534-4043
- Consultation: Free & Strictly Confidential
