Bile Duct Injury Malpractice Attorneys In Michigan

McKeen & Associates, PC, represents Michigan patients who suffered bile duct injuries during gallbladder removal surgery. We stand against hospital systems and insurance companies that smaller firms will not take on.

The Critical View Of Safety: Why Most Bile Duct Injuries Are Preventable

During gallbladder removal, the surgeon must cut and clip the cystic duct, the small tube connecting the gallbladder to the bile duct system. Scar tissue or inflammation from gallstones obscures the anatomy and causes surgeons to cut the wrong structure: the common bile duct or common hepatic duct, the tubes that carry bile from the liver.

The Critical View of Safety requires surgeons to clear tissue around the gallbladder, identify two structures (cystic duct and artery) and confirm no other structures before cutting anything. Surgeons who cut without achieving that clear view may be found negligent if injury results.

Types Of Bile Duct Damage Caused By Surgical Negligence

Bile duct injuries occur in several common ways. Each reflects a distinct failure in surgical judgment:

• Transection: The surgeon cuts the common bile duct in two.
• Clipping: The surgeon places a surgical clip on the common bile duct, blocking all bile flow from the liver.
• Cautery burns: Thermal injury from laparoscopic instruments scars and narrows the duct, a condition called stricture, with damage appearing weeks or months after surgery.
• Laparoscopic limitations: Laparoscopic surgery is more demanding than open surgery. When the surgeon cannot see the anatomy clearly, the duty is to convert to an open procedure, not continue.

Each mechanism reflects a specific failure of surgical duty.

How A Bile Duct Injury Changes Your Life

A bile duct injury does not end in the operating room. These injuries carry serious, lasting consequences:

• Bile leak and peritonitis: Bile is toxic to internal organs. A leak causes bile peritonitis, a life-threatening abdominal infection requiring emergency surgery.
• Delayed diagnosis: Surgeons often close the patient without recognizing the injury. The patient returns days later with jaundice and septic shock.
• Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy: Many victims require this major reconstruction surgery, which attaches the bowel directly to the liver, turning a previously healthy person into a chronic patient with lifelong risks of liver failure and cholangitis, a recurring bile duct infection.

When hospital systems send their defense teams, our attorneys bring the courtroom experience and the record to meet them.

Hold The Surgeon Accountable. Talk To Our Michigan Attorneys Today.

You trusted a surgeon with a routine procedure, and that surgeon violated your trust. McKeen & Associates, PC, has secured multimillion-dollar results against major medical institutions. Call our office at 313-524-8570 or reach out to us online today.