Unknown Massachusetts venue
A 33-year-old woman with a history of heavy menstrual bleeding underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy. She was discharged a week after the surgery despite continuing complaints of lower abdominal pain. An intravenous pyelogram after readmission revealed ureter injury.
After several unsuccessful attempts to place a stent to repair the injured ureter, a nephrostomy tube was inserted in the women’s kidney for urine drainage and she was transferred to another hospital.
During repair surgery, the ureter was found to be encased in suture material, necessitating ureteral reimplantation. Several years after recovery from this surgery, the woman had urinary incontinence that she blamed on the reimplantation.
In suing, the woman claimed her physician was negligent in suturing her ureter during the hysterectomy.
The physician contended that ureter injury is a known risk of hysterectomy and that the current incontinence was unrelated to the ureter reimplantation.
- The case settled for $150,000.