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Case Overview:

Post op, a laparoscopic robotic left inguinal hernia repair, the patient returned to the hospital with lower abdominal / pelvic pain. A CT was performed, and it was discovered that he had a hematoma in the abdominal wall of the rectus abdominal muscle. This is where they believed the pain was coming from. Five days later, a large abscess had formed in the epigastric area, away from lower abdomen / pelvis where his original pain was felt. The abscess was caused by a bowel obstruction in the epigastric (upper) abdomen. Visually the defense attorney wanted to focus on the locations because the plaintiff was saying that they should have discovered the bowel obstruction when he originally complained of the pain post op. The defense was that there was no evidence at that time of a bowel obstruction and that unfortunately it developed over the following five days, eventually leading to the abscess in the epigastric area. The jury found in favor of the defense.