Medic pays pain compensation after colonoscopy

Doctors must point out dangers during surgical procedures

12/11/2013

Doctors who inform their patients inadequately about the risks of colonoscopy must expect pain relief if more serious complications occur. As a result of a bowel failure, which had occurred during a colonoscopy in a patient, a specialist in surgery was sentenced by the Higher Regional Court of Hamm to pay a compensation of 220,000 euros. This has the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Medizinrecht of the German Bar Association (DAV) reported.

The incident occurred when a 48-year-old man noticed blood in the stool and was examined for it. The treating specialist then performed a colonoscopy with polyp removal. In this procedure, the patient suffered a bowel perforation. Only a few days later, the man had to be operated on. Instead of ending the man's suffering, he contracted extra peritonitis. Now the affected person had to undergo further operations. But instead of an improvement, the condition of the man worsened and he had to be treated intensively for months. The consequences were so severe that an artificial bowel outlet was laid and the 48-year-old had to give up his work.

The higher regional court gave the patient right and awarded him a compensation for pain, on the grounds that the doctor had not sufficiently informed about the procedure. „The standard leaflets signed by the patient do not replace a personal discussion about the existing risks“, so the court. The DAV sees in the judgment a strengthening of the patient rights. In the future, physicians must be careful to provide their patients with sufficient information and then to document precisely. (Fr)

Picture: Tim Reckmann