Issues affecting the Gall bladder after surgery
Gall bladder removal (cholecystectomy) is a common surgical procedure in Scottish hospitals.
The vast majority of gall bladders are removed laparoscopically otherwise known as keyhole surgery. The laparoscopic method does not require a large incision.
Usually this is an outpatient procedure, which allows the patient to return home the day of surgery, and has a two or three day recovery period.
What's involved in gall bladder surgery?
In removing the gall bladder, the surgeon clips the cystic duct in two places. One is near the cystic duct’s juncture with the gallbladder, and the second is at the cystic duct’s juncture with the common bile duct. The surgeon similarly clips the cystic artery.
The surgeon then transects (cuts) the cystic duct and artery between the two clips. By transecting the cystic duct and artery, the surgeon frees the gall bladder for removal.
The surgeon must find and identify the cystic duct’s juncture with the gall bladder and the cystic duct’s juncture with the common bile duct before transecting the cystic duct. The surgeon accomplishes this by finding the gall bladder and the cystic duct juncture; and then meticulously tracing the cystic duct to its junction with the common bile duct.
The objective is to identify the cystic duct conclusively. The surgeon must not clip the cystic duct or transect it before making conclusive identification of the cystic duct.
Common mistakes in gall bladder surgery
Unfortunately, laparoscopic cholecystectomies do not always go as planned.
The most common mistake is that the surgeon clips or cuts the patient’s common bile duct instead of the cystic duct (known as iatrogenic injury). This injury usually requires extensive, complicated and painful surgery to reconstruct the patient’s biliary anatomy.
Once the patient’s biliary anatomy has been reconstructed, there will be a long period of convalescence. Even then the reconstructive surgery does not always mean that the patient is out of the woods.
After reconstructive surgery, the patient is at risk of scarring and strictures of the reconstructed biliary tract and further reconstructive surgery. In the worst case scenario, the patient can develop liver failure and die
The basic rule is that the surgeon must conclusively identify the cystic duct before clipping or transecting. If the surgeon makes the conclusive identification, the gall bladder injury will not occur.
Often the litigation in which we are involved focuses on that one issue - that the surgeon failed to conclusively identify the cystic duct. As a result, the surgeon may have placed clips across the common bile duct, obstructing the flow of bile or transected the patient’s common bile duct, resulting in the flow of bile into the patient’s abdomen with consequent sepsis.
Unfortunately we also encounter cases where there is a delay in recognising that injury, resulting in a severely weakened patient and a more complicated and protracted recovery.
Contact our specialist medical negligence solicitors
If you would like to talk to a specialist medical negligence solicitor about your experience with gall bladder surgery, in the first instance please complete a simple Clinical Negligence form.
Please give as much detail as you can as this will assist in our ability to fully understand your circumstances and offer legal advice.
This advice is, of course, free of charge.
No win, no fee personal injury solicitors
The expression “No win, no fee” is often used in personal injury cases. It is used as a way of funding a compensation claim where the accident victim does not have the means to pay for the costs involved as the case progresses.
A number of solicitors are prepared to handle personal injury cases on a “No Win – No Fee” basis but very few are able to offer their clients complete protection if the case is unsuccessful.
In that event, the client could end up being liable for many thousands of pounds in legal expenses or the case won't be fully investigated and therefore likely to under-settle.
Compensate 'no win, no fee' funding
Digby Brown has its own funding company, Compensate, which provides the funding to allow the case to be fully investigated, employ the best experts surrounding the circumstances of the accident and/or injuries sustained and where and if necessary go to court.
If for whatever reason the case is unsuccessful, Compensate pays all your legal expenses and those of your opponent – you pay nothing.
On average our clients receive over 3 times the pre-litigation offer
Because of Compensate funding Digby Brown's success rate is extremely high and on average our clients receive three times the pre-litigation offer.
In the event the case is successful, a small percentage of your damages will be deducted with VAT to pay for this service. The percentage which Compensate will charge depends on the degree of risk involved. We believe that this is the fairest method of giving clients access to justice whilst ensuring their cases are fully investigated, prepared and funded.
Don’t take our word for it, just read many of the court decisions and case studies on our website.
Beware of compensation offers which may be too good
We know you will have seen many adverts offering 100% compensation or telling you that you will not lose any of your compensation, however we believe there are a number of problems with companies that do this.
- How do they make their money if they don’t charge you anything?
- If they aren’t taking any money from you, the client, what incentive do they have to ensure you receive the right level of compensation, appropriate to the injuries you have sustained?
- Fully preparing a case, finding out exactly what happened and what the consequences of your injuries may mean in the long term, is expensive, how do they do this properly?
- If they aren’t fully preparing these cases will they just accept the first offer they are given on your behalf by the Insurance company?
- It makes simple business sense, the less work they do the higher their profit margin is - they simply have no incentive to work harder on your behalf.
- These adverts in the main are from English firms on national television which operates in a different way and therefore wouldn’t apply to a Scottish person.
We know from the many client cases we mandate from other firms of solicitors (in the main at the request of the client who is extremely unsatisfied with the service received for the other firm) that many shortcuts are taken in preparation and that the first offer received is being recommended for acceptance, regardless of the value.
Getting something for nothing is usually the first sign of poor service.
Correct level of compensation with Digby Brown
Our experience and statistics show time and time again we will achieve the correct level of compensation which will be substantially more than the insurer is initially prepared to offer.
Even after we have deducted our percentage as a success fee you will gain considerably more than you would have achieved using a 100% compensation model.
Contact Digby Brown's personal injury solicitors
We have offices across Scotland in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Aberdeen and Ayr.
For further information about no win, no fee, or anything else, call us on 0333 200 5925 or fill in our enquiry form below and someone will get back in touch with you.
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