Law & Regulation in health services Torts Case Study Chandler Clay decided to have weight-loss surgery after his physician told him that surgery was less risky than continuing to live in his physical state. He was admitted to Forestville Medical Center for a laparoscopic gastric bypass operation, performed by Dr. Perry DeJohn. This required making small incisions in his abdomen. A video camera and surgical tools was then inserted through these. The next day, Clay suffered respiratory failure and was placed into critical care. For four days, he showed signs of complication where fluids from the bowels leaked into the abdomen. Finally, DeJohn took him back into surgery where the leak was fixed. During the second operation, DeJohn realized that the trocar—one of the surgical tools—had penetrated the bowel. He had used a trocar manufactured by Rio Nido Medical Equipment and complained that the design of the handle of the trocar had made it hard for him to control its placement while he inserted it. Unlike most of its competitors, Rio Nido’s model uses a smooth handle that doesn’t have ridges to improve the surgeon’s grip.Expert evidence showed that most bariatric doctors would have taken Chandler back into surgery by the second day after he showed symptoms. By that point his blood pressure dropped to the point he suffered a “low-flow stroke” in which the brain is not getting enough blood. Clay still suffers from a number of ailments. He cannot speak intelligently and cannot walk, feed, clean and bathe himself. DeJohn had performed 21 bariatric surgeries. To meet the standards of the American Society Bariatric Surgery (ASBS), he was required to have performed 50 operations and to complete at least 20 hours of bariatric education courses. DeJohn had taken one eight-hour class. According to Carl Lawson, CEO of Forestville Medical Center, DeJohn had told the hospital that he met ASBS standards but this had not been confirmed. The ASBS seal and DeJohn’s...
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