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Closed-loop bowel obstruction allegedly not treated as a surgical emergency at Emory

This complaint states as follows: The patient went to the Emergency Department with what a CT scan showed to be a suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction. Such an obstruction is a surgical emergency. The consulting surgeon, Dr. Cheickna Diarra, failed to treat it as an emergency. Instead, he left the patient to wait overnight. The next morning, the oncoming surgeon, Dr. Darryl Tookes, also failed to promptly attend to the patient, leading to additional delay. These delays resulted in the patient losing 40% of her small intestine. Emory Healthcare contributed to the harm through administrative negligence, including failure to address nighttime care problems, ineffective patient hand-off systems, lack of a culture of safety, inadequate training on medical errors and patient rights, lack of protocols for urgent CT scans, insufficient nurse training on medical issues, and failure to implement proper patient grievance and sentinel event processes. These administrative failures, both simple and sophisticated, contributed to the delays and errors that ultimately harmed the patient.

System
Emory Healthcare
Facility
Emory Healthcare
Providers involved
Emory Healthcare, Inc. / Dr. Cheickna Diarra / Dr. Darryl Tookes
Pattern
Suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction followed by overnight delay, morning delay, and loss of 40% of the small intestine
Harm
Forty percent loss of small intestine

Overview

This page concerns a suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction at Emory, where the complaint alleges that a surgical emergency was left untreated overnight, the oncoming surgeon also did not promptly attend to the patient the next morning, and broader administrative failures contributed to the delay that cost the patient 40% of her small intestine.

Chronology

  1. The patient went to the Emergency Department, where a CT scan showed a suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction.
  2. Because such an obstruction is a surgical emergency, the consulting surgeon, Dr. Cheickna Diarra, allegedly should have treated it as urgent but instead left the patient to wait overnight.
  3. The next morning, oncoming surgeon Dr. Darryl Tookes also allegedly failed to promptly attend to the patient, causing additional delay.
  4. The delays allegedly caused the patient to lose 40% of her small intestine, and the complaint also attributes harm to Emory Healthcare’s nighttime-care, hand-off, training, protocol, grievance, and sentinel-event failures.

Alleged failures

  • Dr. Cheickna Diarra allegedly failed to treat a suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction as the surgical emergency it was.
  • Dr. Darryl Tookes allegedly added further delay by failing to promptly attend to the patient the next morning.
  • Emory Healthcare allegedly contributed through administrative negligence, including failures in nighttime care, hand-offs, urgent CT-scan protocols, nurse training, patient-rights training, and grievance and sentinel-event processes.

Entities and tags

Emory Healthcare, Inc.Dr. Cheickna DiarraDr. Darryl TookesCT scanClosed-loop bowel obstructionPatient grievance processSentinel event processBowel obstructionDelay in treatmentAdministrative negligenceHand-off failureEmergency medicineGeneral surgeryHospital administration

Questions this example answers

What does the Emory bowel-obstruction delay allege?

This complaint states as follows: The patient went to the Emergency Department with what a CT scan showed to be a suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction. Such an obstruction is a surgical emergency. The consulting surgeon, Dr. Cheickna Diarra, failed to treat it as an emergency. Instead, he left the patient to wait overnight. The next morning, the oncoming surgeon, Dr. Darryl Tookes, also failed to promptly attend to the patient, leading to additional delay. These delays resulted in the patient losing 40% of her small intestine. Emory Healthcare contributed to the harm through administrative negligence, including failure to address nighttime care problems, ineffective patient hand-off systems, lack of a culture of safety, inadequate training on medical errors and patient rights, lack of protocols for urgent CT scans, insufficient nurse training on medical issues, and failure to implement proper patient grievance and sentinel event processes. These administrative failures, both simple and sophisticated, contributed to the delays and errors that ultimately harmed the patient.

Who is identified in this public case example?

This public case example identifies Emory Healthcare, Inc., Dr. Cheickna Diarra, and Dr. Darryl Tookes. It also tags the source-supported entities Emory Healthcare, Inc., Dr. Cheickna Diarra, Dr. Darryl Tookes, CT scan, and Closed-loop bowel obstruction.

What alleged failures are summarized here?

Dr. Cheickna Diarra allegedly failed to treat a suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction as the surgical emergency it was. Dr. Darryl Tookes allegedly added further delay by failing to promptly attend to the patient the next morning. Emory Healthcare allegedly contributed through administrative negligence, including failures in nighttime care, hand-offs, urgent CT-scan protocols, nurse training, patient-rights training, and grievance and sentinel-event processes.