Case Description
On January 4, 2003, the Plaintiff, John Doe, was admitted to the Defendant Hospital for a gallstone in his biliary tract, which required removal.

Accordingly, on January 6, 2003, the Plaintiff was taken to a procedure room for the laparoscopic gall bladder removal. The Plaintiff alleged that contrary to the standards of care, the Defendant Doctor failed to properly identify and protect structures in the area of the procedure and, in fact, negligently transected the Plaintiff's common bile duct. Bile began to spill into the surgical bed and the Defendant recognized that he had damaged the common bile duct, temporarily stented it, placed drains and transferred the Plaintiff from the Defendant Hospital to another hospital for specialized care and treatment.

The Plaintiff was admitted to another hospital on January 7, 2003. He underwent an abdominal CT scan which confirmed the injury, as well as the fact that the stent placed was leaking. Accordingly, surgeons at the referral hospital took the Plaintiff into a procedure room and placed a new stent. The Plaintiff was subsequently monitored to be certain that the stent was not leaking bile. After confirming that the stent was intact, the Plaintiff was discharged on January 20, 2003, in a severely injured and debilitated condition. Since that time, he has been unable to resume normal activities; has suffered with severe, ongoing pain as well as emotional anguish, fear and anxiety; and was required to return to the hospital on four separate occasions for replacement of the stent and multiple other occasions for infection and bouts of cholangitis -- all due to the negligence of the Defendants.

The Defendants denied all of the Plaintiff's allegations of negligence, causation and harm.