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Case Overview:

A woman presented in the emergency department with a one day history of abdominal pain. There was a small amount of fluid around the pancreas and a dilated bile duct and she was diagnosed with pancreatitis. The following day she had a sudden deterioration of her vitals with continued severe abdominal pain. The called for a CT to see if she had a perforation of her bowel, but no free air was seen. She was then transferred to a different hospital that could better treat her. She had an emergent decompressive laparotomy for abdominal compartment syndrome and she was found to have ischemia of her entire colon and some of the small bowel. The plaintiff claimed there was a delay in diagnosis of the abdominal compartment syndrome, but it was within the standard of care for the physicians to rule out a perforation with a CT as it is more likely there would be a perforation over compartment syndrome. As soon as the CT came back negative for a perforation the physicians determined that abdominal compartment syndrome was a possibility and transferred her to another facility that could better care for her. Unfortunately they were not able to help her and she died a day later. The jury found in favor of the defense.