Personal Injury Solicitors

A US lawsuit against a doctor who performed a hysterectomy using a Da Vinci robotic surgeon has been filed after the female patient died.

US personal injury (PI) lawyers Anapol Schwartz have launched a lawsuit on behalf of the deceased woman, Georgeann Farkas, 46, who was married and the mother of three children at the time of her death three days after laparascopic surgery for a hysterectomy.

The lawsuit was filed against surgeon David P. Warshal, M.D, Cooper University Hospital and Intuitive Surgical Inc, makers of the Da Vinci Surgical System.

A hysterectomy involves removal of the uterus and sometimes the Fallopian tubes, ovaries and cervix.

Da Vinci robotic surgery was used to operate on Mrs Farkas. Using the Da Vinci system, a surgeon operates through tiny incisions using a robotic arm to prevent a more radical and invasive operation taking place.

The procedure for laparascopic hysterectomy is also sometimes called a scarless hysterectomy as the procedure is designed to be minimally invasive.

However, during surgery four small abdominal incisions damaged Mrs Farkas’ intestine, causing her bowel to leak into her abdominal cavity, resulting in severe necrosis of her abdomen, colon and intestine.

Necrosis is the term used to describe body tissue which has died. In the case of Mrs Farkas, the necrosis caused severe sepsis (formerly ccalled septicaemia) in her colon, which had to be removed.

Mrs Farkas died two days after the removal of her colon from severe sepsis and respiratory failure.

The personal injury lawyers representing her allege medical negligence on the part of the doctor operating the Da Vinci Robotic Surgeon, as well as corporate negligence against the hospital. The lawsuit also alleges that the manufacturer of the Da Vinci Robotic Surgeon did not offer sufficient information about the risks of using the device – and training for healthcare providers and surgeons using the device was inadequate. The lawsuit also alleges that the Da Vinci was promoted to consumers like Mrs Farkas, despite there being safer surgical procedures available for hysterectomy.

The personal injury lawyers representing Mrs Farkas said:

“…While there are always risks associated with procedures like this one, Mrs Farkas has experienced injuries well beyond those one should ever expect.

“This should not have occurred, and the result is nothing less than tragic.”

What is Medical Negligence?

Medical negligence falls under the area of law known as personal injury. If a patient suffers preventable injuries during surgery, or is not warned adequately of the risks of the procedure – or undergoes a surgical procedure which is not appropriate and results in injury, a claim of medical negligence could be brought.

Other medical negligence claims might involve errors in prescriptions which cause harm, failures in diagnosing diseases or infections, wrong treatment – or even surgeons leaving medical instruments inside patients and stitching the wound back up without checking.

Duncan Lewis is one of the UK’s leading personal injury firms and our personal injury solicitors can advise on any case involving personal injury, including medical negligence, workplace injuries and accidents, holiday accidents, injuries from road traffic accidents, birth injuries – or negligent NHS or private treatment.

Call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.