Airman lost legs after gallbladder surgery

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: her209
link

Airman lost legs after gallbladder surgery

(AP) ? 9 hours ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? An airman lost parts of both legs and was in critical condition after routine gallbladder surgery at Travis Air Force Base went terribly wrong, his family said.

Airman 1st Class Colton Read was supposed to get his gallbladder removed laparoscopically ? via a small incision ? at Travis' David Grant Medical Center on July 9.

During the procedure, surgeons nicked or punctured his aorta, a large artery that carries blood from the heart throughout the body, according to his wife, Jessica Read. The surgeons repaired the breach enough to save his life, but the repair began leaking and disrupted the blood supply to his legs, she said.

Read was flown to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where doctors told the family that damage from the lack of blood required amputation. Family members say he's undergone 10 surgeries to remove dead tissue from his legs, leaving him without much of his right leg and the lower portion of his left.

And Read still hasn't had his gallbladder removed because of the surgery complications, relatives said.

Travis officials would not comment on specifics, only saying a "serious medical incident" occurred at the hospital. The case is under investigation by the base, a national hospital accrediting commission and the U.S. surgeon general.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Imagine going in for a routine surgery and losing both your legs. What a nightmare. I wonder how much will this affect this young man's career.

Sounds like the Doc lost his nerve by not opening Davis up and immediately fixing the damage, he waited for some one else to do "his" job, too late to do any good.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: WHAMPOM

Originally posted by: her209
link

Airman lost legs after gallbladder surgery

(AP) ? 9 hours ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? An airman lost parts of both legs and was in critical condition after routine gallbladder surgery at Travis Air Force Base went terribly wrong, his family said.

Airman 1st Class Colton Read was supposed to get his gallbladder removed laparoscopically ? via a small incision ? at Travis' David Grant Medical Center on July 9.

During the procedure, surgeons nicked or punctured his aorta, a large artery that carries blood from the heart throughout the body, according to his wife, Jessica Read. The surgeons repaired the breach enough to save his life, but the repair began leaking and disrupted the blood supply to his legs, she said.

Read was flown to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where doctors told the family that damage from the lack of blood required amputation. Family members say he's undergone 10 surgeries to remove dead tissue from his legs, leaving him without much of his right leg and the lower portion of his left.

And Read still hasn't had his gallbladder removed because of the surgery complications, relatives said.

Travis officials would not comment on specifics, only saying a "serious medical incident" occurred at the hospital. The case is under investigation by the base, a national hospital accrediting commission and the U.S. surgeon general.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Imagine going in for a routine surgery and losing both your legs. What a nightmare. I wonder how much will this affect this young man's career.

Sounds like the Doc lost his nerve by not opening Davis up and immediately fixing the damage, he waited for some one else to do "his" job, too late to do any good.

Unless he had a vascular surgeon doing the gall bladder surgery (which would unlikely), they would have (should have) called a vascular surgeon once they realized they nicked the aorta to repair it. That's their specialty.

The story seems pretty light on details, since we don't know what the "repair" was. And it's regular muscle is a lot more resistant to lack of oxygen then the heart or brain. To cuase that much tissue loss, I would think he would have to not gotten enough blood to his legs for a substantial length of time.

I find it hard to believe that the "leak" was so bad that it compromised blood flow, unless it either created a hematoma that compressed the aorta to block flow to the legs, or he clotted off his aorta/iliac/femoral artery. Or it clotted off the distal arteries. Either way, that tends to be really painful and obvious, and should have been caught and fixed right away.

We almost certainly don't know what really happened, other then something really bad happened.

 

[Slew Foot]

Originally posted by: GarfieldtheCat

Originally posted by: WHAMPOM

Originally posted by: her209
link

Airman lost legs after gallbladder surgery

(AP) ? 9 hours ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? An airman lost parts of both legs and was in critical condition after routine gallbladder surgery at Travis Air Force Base went terribly wrong, his family said.

Airman 1st Class Colton Read was supposed to get his gallbladder removed laparoscopically ? via a small incision ? at Travis' David Grant Medical Center on July 9.

During the procedure, surgeons nicked or punctured his aorta, a large artery that carries blood from the heart throughout the body, according to his wife, Jessica Read. The surgeons repaired the breach enough to save his life, but the repair began leaking and disrupted the blood supply to his legs, she said.

Read was flown to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where doctors told the family that damage from the lack of blood required amputation. Family members say he's undergone 10 surgeries to remove dead tissue from his legs, leaving him without much of his right leg and the lower portion of his left.

And Read still hasn't had his gallbladder removed because of the surgery complications, relatives said.

Travis officials would not comment on specifics, only saying a "serious medical incident" occurred at the hospital. The case is under investigation by the base, a national hospital accrediting commission and the U.S. surgeon general.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Imagine going in for a routine surgery and losing both your legs. What a nightmare. I wonder how much will this affect this young man's career.

Sounds like the Doc lost his nerve by not opening Davis up and immediately fixing the damage, he waited for some one else to do "his" job, too late to do any good.

Unless he had a vascular surgeon doing the gall bladder surgery (which would unlikely), they would have (should have) called a vascular surgeon once they realized they nicked the aorta to repair it. That's their specialty.

The story seems pretty light on details, since we don't know what the "repair" was. And it's regular muscle is a lot more resistant to lack of oxygen then the heart or brain. To cuase that much tissue loss, I would think he would have to not gotten enough blood to his legs for a substantial length of time.

I find it hard to believe that the "leak" was so bad that it compromised blood flow, unless it either created a hematoma that compressed the aorta to block flow to the legs, or he clotted off his aorta/iliac/femoral artery. Or it clotted off the distal arteries. Either way, that tends to be really painful and obvious, and should have been caught and fixed right away.

We almost certainly don't know what really happened, other then something really bad happened.

I know what happened

Someone MAJORLY f'ed up.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Slew Foot


I know what happened

Someone MAJORLY f'ed up.

I don't want to know what happened but is there any recourse for something like this if you're in the military and in a military hospital? No lawsuits? Nothing?

 

[JSt0rm]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: Slew Foot


I know what happened

Someone MAJORLY f'ed up.

I don't want to know what happened but is there any recourse for something like this if you're in the military and in a military hospital? No lawsuits? Nothing?

From a couple posts up I guess you dont

 

[SammyJr]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
what an awesome example of gov't provided healthcare!

Yeah, like medical errors never happen at private hospitals.:roll:

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: Slew Foot


I know what happened

Someone MAJORLY f'ed up.

I don't want to know what happened but is there any recourse for something like this if you're in the military and in a military hospital? No lawsuits? Nothing?

"Feres doctrine effectively bars service members from successfully collecting damages for personal injuries, whether or not they were suffered in the performance of their duties. It also bars families of service members from filing wrongful death or loss of consortium actions when a service member is killed or injured."



He will get a medical discharge and a small % of his pay plus maybe SS disability. He probable do better trying to find a Gov job since he will be a disabled Vet and get CPS ranking(10points plus rise to the top) for open Gov Jobs.

 

[sandorski]

Surgery of any type is inherently Risky. Numerically speaking, some people are going to end up with serious complications.

I had the same surgery 6/7 years ago without complications.

 

[Hacp]

You'd expect an outpatient surgery to not have this kind of complication.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Hacp
You'd expect an outpatient surgery to not have this kind of complication.

Anything can happen.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Hacp
You'd expect an outpatient surgery to not have this kind of complication.

Anything can happen.

True, but almost anything can be fixed.

Nicking an Aorta could be a reasonable complication (I saw could since I don't about this procedure). Not fixing it before it causes limb loss is a whole different ball-game.

Anytime you cut off blood flow enough to cause tissue death, it is both symptomatic and painful. We haven't heard the full story, but that seems to be the real f-up that happened.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
Two hours to get from Travis to UCD med center by life flight? Shit my grandma could drive it an hour and a half, tops.

Poor guy.

But the a quips about government health care are not at all fun and games, there is some truth to it... the general competence of health care, at least for the government program in the short term, will probably drop some.

It takes time to get the aircraft in the air, over to the hospital, load the patient and then fly to UCD.

Helos are not standing by with engines warmed up on the pad at evey hospital.

Aircraft do not start and go like a vehicle.

Actually, they are pretty well ready to go at a moment's notice, you'd be surprised. But don't let your lack of knowledge of the subject matter stop you from giving an opinion.

Also, the patient signed a consent that said he realized that everything, including his death could result from his surgery. Few people really comprehend the risks of surgery.

 

[Slew Foot]

Originally posted by: GarfieldtheCat

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Hacp
You'd expect an outpatient surgery to not have this kind of complication.

Anything can happen.

True, but almost anything can be fixed.

Nicking an Aorta could be a reasonable complication (I saw could since I don't about this procedure). Not fixing it before it causes limb loss is a whole different ball-game.

Anytime you cut off blood flow enough to cause tissue death, it is both symptomatic and painful. We haven't heard the full story, but that seems to be the real f-up that happened.

Thats getting warmer to what actually happened.

From what Ive been told, he cant sue the military unless he's unable to have kids. Then the family can sue for something. Otherwise he gets about 50K/yr in assorted military/disability benefits and free VA medical care.