In 1999, Lisa Baert went in for a routine tubal ligation, but after complications she suffered brain damage and had to have her hands and feet amputated as well. In a suit that began in 2000, but is only now coming to trial, Baert, her husband, and their children are suing the obstetrician who performed the surgery.
Baert was only 21 when she opted for the surgery, but now she lives in a longer-term-care-home and needs help with daily tasks, including using the toilet and putting on her prosthetic limbs. Her brain damage is sufficiently severe as to prevent her from testifying.
The suit claims not only that the obstetrician failed to inform Baert of the possible risks of the operation, and that he was negligent in performing the operation after learning that Baert was taking anti-depression drugs for postpartum depression.
Two days after the surgery, Baert was rushed back to the hospital, where doctors discovered a puncture in her bowel that was leaking toxins into her body. After several cardiac arrests, doctors were forced to amputate both hands and feet.
The obstetrician’s lawyer asserts that Baert herself is at fault, saying that a punctured bowel is a recognized complication for tubal ligation, rather than acknowledging it as a surgical error. The obstetrician claims that Baert should have acted more quickly when she experienced pain, rather than taking another person’s prescription pain medication.
It is typical of doctors to try and shift blame onto patients. Any claim that a patient was insufficiently vigilant must pass the test of the doctor’s vigilance, for if we cannot count on them to fully inform us of the risks of a procedure, or to use caution and judgment when practicing a voluntary surgery, how can our vigilance possibly overcome their negligence? If you or a loved one has been seriously hurt after trusting yourself to a doctor’s care, contact Salt Lake City malpractice attorneys, G. Eric Nelson & Associates to help you put your life together.
