Hall Vs. Hilbun
Eliza B. Gray
Rasmussen College
Authors Note: This paper is being submitted on the 18th of March 2013 for the winter semester of Medical Law and Ethics section 05.
Hall Vs. Hilbun
The case of Hall versus Hilbun is a case in which an exploratory surgery was conducted to try to locate a possible blockage in the small bowel to alleviate abdominal pain. Mrs. Hall went into the hospital complaining of abdominal pain, upon being seen by doctors she was treated by a general surgeon by the name of Dr. Hilbun who stated he thought the pain was due to a blockage in the small bowel and thought an exploratory surgery was deemed appropriate for treatment. Mrs Hall consented to the surgery and at first things went seemingly well. After surgery Mrs. Hall was awake and communicating, Dr. Hilbun accompanied her back to the private room that she would be staying in and stayed with her for some time. Her vital signs has been consistently within the appropriate range since she awoke after surgery, therefore Dr. Hilbun felt it would be ok if he left the hospital for the night.
Throughout the remainder of the evening Mrs. Hall frequently complained of pain in her abdomen, nothing substantial was done in an effort to eliminate this pain nor did the nursing staff contact Dr. Hilbun at any point in time. Dr. Hilbun never contacted the hospital, nursing staff or Mrs. Hall to check on her condition and ensure that she was still stable. Only after Mrs. Hall’s condition has quickly deteriorated was Dr. Hilbun contacted by the hospital. By the time he had received the call and arrived to the hospital it was too late and Mrs. Hall had already passed away.
Upon Mrs. Hall’s death an autopsy was completed to try to aquire a cause of death. During this autopsy it was reveiled that a sponge had been left in Mrs. Halls’ abdomen during the exploratory surgery that Dr. Hilbun had previously completed. However, this sponge was determined to not