Hernia Surgery Expert Witness

A hernia occurs when a hole develops in the patient’s abdomen through which an organ protrudes. It is a highly serious problem that is most commonly treated through corrective surgery. If surgeons act immediately, the surgery will have limited complications. One of AME’s hernia expert witnesses has written an exclusive medical malpractice article that we have provided, for your interest, below.Hernia – Medical Malpractice A groin hernia is a protrusion of intestines through the lower abdominal muscular wall. In a male, the testicle (testis) is formed near the kidneys and as the fetus develops the testicle passes through the lower abdominal muscles, down to the scrotum and leaves a potential space through those muscles. Sometimes it drags a little bit of the lining of the abdominal wall (called the peritoneum) with it. There are two kinds of hernias, an indirect and a direct. The congenital hernia is the indirect hernia, caused by the persistence of the protruding peritoneal sac along the passageway of the testis. The direct hernia is caused by the abdominal muscles stretching open from working and aging. The area that stretches is the site of the greatest weakness around the spermatic cord which passes through these muscles and which brings blood to the testis and sperm from it through the vas deferens. If there is a real hernia, surgery can be performed. The patient must be warned in advance that there is the chance of the loss of the testicle. If the patient is not informed, that is negligence. The alternative to surgery is the patient wearing a truss; however, this is less effective. There can be some persistent pain and discomfort, which is usually from tying the adjacent nerves in a suture, and is another negligent act. The testicle is usually lost by sewing the muscles too tightly in the area of repair around the spermatic cord. This will squeeze off the testicle blood supply, causing irreversible damage. Some surgeons have such gross technique they will actually rip the spermatic cord apart! Occasionally postoperative bleeding will occur to such a degree that testicle damage will result. If the bleeding is extensive, exploratory surgery is required to control it, as well as to remove the blood clots (hematomas). If a recurrent hernia develops it may not have occurred from negligent care. We must review all the records and be told how long the patient refrained from any heavy lifting or hard work. It usually takes three weeks for the hernia repair to properly heal. It is difficult to prove that the loss of a testicle following the repair of a recurrent hernia resulted from negligent care. There can be extensive scar tissue that makes the surgery more hazardous and the defense to that injury is often successful. There are two nerves in this area, the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves and either one of them, if they’re caught in a stitch, will cause chronic, persistent, severe pain which would require surgery to cut that nerve. If the nerve is cut, this would cause a little insignificant numbness in the upper groin. It can cause severe pain if ligated, which is negligent, and if this pain occurs immediately after surgery, persists and is not diagnosed properly, then it’s further negligence causing more pain and suffering.