Gastric bypass surgery malpractice causes need for multi-organ transplant

Trent, PA

Ruth Baer, 37, of Trent had weighed 298 pounds. She had a gastric bypass operation, but the procedure was done wrong and she didn’t know it.

In September 2004, her house burned down. She became ill, but doctors thought it was because of stress. At the time she was working for Woodmen of the World life insurance and was doing a medical study for the U.S. Department of Health. She is now on disability.

“On Sept. 15, I won’t forget it, I was throwing up every day,” she said. “I was on my way home from work and I passed out. I woke up in a cornfield. I told the doctor it was more than my nerves.”

An endoscopic examination showed that gastric bypass surgery done in 2000 had been done incorrectly. Because of the malpractice, food wasn’t bypassing her stomach; it was staying in a secondary pouch and decomposing. The only way to get the food out was to vomit, she said. It damaged her organs.

She had reconstructive surgery at Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh, then a similar procedure at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh. She had feeding tubes for one year. When her condition deteriorated, she was referred to the transplant program at UPMC Presbyterian.

She became very ill. One day, a home health nurse came in and Baer told her she was dying. More >>

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