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Indiana Medical Malpractice Lawyers Deal with Negligent Gallbladder Surgeries

Dec 18, 2009 | Firm News, Medical Malpractice

Indiana medical malpractice lawyers frequently must deal with issues concerning negligently performed gallbladder surgery. Injuries to patients from these surgeries can be devastating, leading to massive medical expenses, permanent liver damage, or even death.

Gallbladder problems are usually caused by gallstones, which are formed when chemicals in the gall bladder concentrate and harden into a lump. The presence of gallstones in the gallbladder typically cause pain in the right upper quadrant. The treatment of choice for gallstones is the removal of the gallbladder, also known as a cholecystectomy.

Most gallbladder removals today are performed laparoscopically. The physician inserts thin instruments through small incisions in the patient’s abdomen. The physician views the surgical field on a video monitor. Because of the small incisions, recovery time is much quicker than with traditional methods of surgery.

While laparoscopic cholecystectomy provides quicker recovery for most patients, it also presents heightened risks. Because the surgeon is viewing the anatomy on a two-dimensional screen, errors in perception may occur. Those errors can lead to the most feared complication of gallbladder surgery — common bile duct injury.

Bile duct injuries are often the result of physicians not being as careful as they should be. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of gallbladder surgery, an experienced Indiana medical malpractice lawyer may be able to help.

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