Hysterectomy ?

Question

After 5 years of suffering my wife finally went down for her operation at 8.30 yesterday. I called hosp. at 11am, they said she was in recovery room but couldn't come back to ward coz lift broke. Called again at 1pm, told she was back on ward and all is fine. 1.30pm visited, she was on morphine and very groggy but all was fine, left 2.30pm. Back again at 6.30pm for 2 hours with family ,wife looked a lot better but still drowsy.
Wednesday 24 hours after surgery Doctor informed my wife they didn't do hysterectomy, coz bowel was joined to uterus.
Am i naive or what ? But shouldn,t they have known this info b4 operating.
During pre operation clinic visits it was suggested that a laparoscopy was done but Consultant refused and said he will just go ahead with the surgery.
Somebody pls. tell me what I can do.

This problem would have been detected by a laparoscopy because this is one of the foreseeable problems they look for.
And Raira, suing never entered my head.

Answer to Kathiejo, My wife was informed at 9.30 am 24 hrs. after the op. I am not allowed in ward till 1.30 pm or believe me I would have demanded answers. Now I have to arrange a meeting with consultant through hospital procedures. Thanks for your answer all the same.

Answer 1

Yes it should of showed up with a Laparoscopy but some peoples organs are different as my son had appendics removed and they were hopeing to operate it in a laparoscopy insision but his bowel was to close for it so he had to be under longer and ended up getting the cut on the side of him so the drs have only done it the safe way for your wife.
I have had a Hysterectomy myself it isnt plesent so i feel for your wife going through what she has and didnt get what she was meant to get done,but trust me the Dr would of done what he had to do if it was safe as you wouldnt wont your wife to had another problem so thank your lucky stars whats happened and good luck i feel for your wife

Answer 2

Why weren't you there with your wife to ask the surgeon these questions? She was unconscious and probably didn't remember what they told her when she was in recovery. Then she was on morphine, and wouldn't even know what questions to ask, let alone remember the answers. 24 hours is probably the first time she remembers what the Doctor said. Many women have hysterectomies without a lap. It's not standard practice where I'm from, anyway. If you are concerned, ask for a second opinion and have the records sent to the new Doctor before your wife AND you go to see him/her. Good luck.

Answer 3

What do you want to do? Sue? The bowel was joined to the uterus. Would you rather they have went ahead and did it and something went wrong? They may have suspected that and maybe that's why they did an open surgery as opposed to a lap. With open, they can see the whole picture more clearly. If they had done a lap and not been able to see everything and just went ahead and started cutting, the results could have been disaterous (sp). I understand your upset, but the person you really need to speak to is the surgeon. Ask about your options. If nessesary, go for a 2nd opinion. You may want to consider a colon-rectal surgeon. They would specialize in something like this.

Answer 4

Well you could file a complaint about that doctor, call a lawyer and tell him/her about it and then go from there.

Doctors should do tests before operating because it could endanger the patients life, so that was the doctors fault for not checking out your wife fully before going through with the operation.

Answer 5

Sometimes the surgeons don't find problems until they have opened the patient up; don;t worry she is in good hands and hysterectomies are a very simple procedure

Answer 6

Sorry to hear about your wife's condition right now. I hope she gets better soon and that maybe you can both speak to the doctor to get to the bottom of the matter.... (please no pun intended.. truly) This must be such a worry for you both.