Georgia Surgicare complaint alleges unauthorized gastric bypass during scheduled hernia repair
The complaint alleges that a patient presented to Georgia Surgicare for a scheduled hernia repair with sleeve revision, consented to that procedure but not to conversion to gastric bypass, and that the defendants nonetheless performed a gastric bypass with Roux-en-Y anastomosis. Same-day discharge without adequate post-operative monitoring was followed by a later small bowel obstruction from an internal hernia, emergency surgery, aspiration pneumonia, sepsis, multiple abdominal washouts, and a later readmission for related complications.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that Georgia Surgicare, IBI Healthcare, and Christopher Ibikunle, M.D. performed a gastric bypass with Roux-en-Y anastomosis during a scheduled hernia repair and sleeve revision even though the plaintiff allegedly had not consented to conversion to gastric bypass.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- She presented to Georgia Surgicare on February 27, 2024 for a scheduled hernia repair that she had been advised would include revision of an earlier gastric sleeve.
- She consented to the hernia repair and sleeve revision but not to conversion to a gastric bypass.
- Georgia Surgicare staff cleared her for the procedure despite her concerns about her high BMI and the facility’s alleged policy against operating on patients with a BMI over 35.
- She was discharged the same day without adequate post-operative monitoring.
- She later presented to a hospital emergency room, imaging showed a small bowel obstruction caused by an internal hernia attributed to the gastric bypass, and emergency surgery and later procedures followed.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- The defendants performed a gastric bypass with Roux-en-Y anastomosis instead of the operation to which the patient had consented.
- No operative report or consent form documenting consent for a gastric bypass had been produced.
- The defendants proceeded in an ambulatory surgical center setting despite alleged concerns about the patient’s BMI and the nature of the procedure.
- Post-operative monitoring before same-day discharge was inadequate.
- The gastric bypass led to an internal hernia, small bowel obstruction, emergency exploratory laparotomy, aspiration pneumonia, sepsis, additional abdominal washouts, and later readmission.