<court>Maricopa County (Ariz) Superior Court</court>
After undergoing a vaginal hysterectomy, a 52-year-old woman suffered a rectovaginal fistula. She claimed the physician was negligent for not converting to an abdominal procedure.
The defense argued the fistula stemmed from endometriosis found during surgery, and added that this complication is a known risk of vaginal hysterectomy.
- The jury returned a defense verdict.
The cases in this column are selected by the editors of OBG Management from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts, with permission of the editor, Lewis Laska, of Nashville, Tenn (www.verdictslaska.com). While there are instances when the available information is incomplete, these cases represent the types of clinical situations that typically result in litigation.