This woman died after having a routine colonoscopy — now the hospital is being questioned
A Missouri hospital is under investigation after an elderly woman who was scared of having a routine colonoscopy died after having the procedure done at their facility.
Martha Wright, 83, had never had a colonoscopy and her family said she was scared of the test because she was petite. “What she repeatedly said was, ‘I don’t want to have a colonoscopy; it will kill me,” her daughter Dena Royal told The Kansas City Star. “We just kind of said, ‘Oh mom, it’s routine, it’s no big deal.’”
Wright had a colonoscopy on Aug. 2 at Cass Regional Medical Center and died the next day of internal bleeding. Royal filed a complaint with the state, which launched an investigation in late November. Investigators found that Wright showed several signs of distress after her colonoscopy, but medical staff didn’t properly respond. The hospital has performed 348 colonoscopies after Wright’s death and still hasn’t addressed the issues with care, The Kansas City Star says.
Those findings were passed on to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which classified the situation as an “immediate jeopardy” that “placed all patients at the facility at risk.” A hospital representative did not respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment.
Royal has hired a lawyer and is planning to sue the hospital. “Something’s just not right here,” she said. “You don’t go in for a routine colonoscopy and then not come home.”
Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that most people get a colonoscopy every 10 years, starting at age 50. However, it’s recommended that some at-risk groups start earlier than that. During a colonoscopy, a doctor inserts a long, thin, flexible lighted tube into your rectum to check for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and colon, the CDC explains. Doctors can usually remove polyps and some cancers during the procedure. The entire procedure usually takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, and it’s done under sedation, the Mayo Clinic says.
“In general, it is a very safe procedure,” Rudolph Bedford, MD, a gastroenterologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
While colonoscopies are generally considered safe, there are some risks involved, including having a bad reaction to the sedative, bleeding from the site where a tissue sample was taken, or a biopsy or abnormal tissue was removed, and a tear (aka perforation) in the colon or rectum wall, per the Mayo Clinic. Still, Bedford says, “the complication rate is very low.” About four per 10,000 people who undergo a colonoscopy will have a perforation and about eight per 10,000 will have bleeding, he says.
“With perforations, most are detected at the time that the patient is recovering from the procedure,” Bedford says. “They will usually experience quite a bit of pain and discomfort. The gastroenterologist will usually realize that there may or may not be a perforation and will send them to the emergency room.” However, he adds, in some cases a patient may have a perforation but not actually start bleeding until later when they’re at home. “At that point, the patient will be in quite a bit of pain, have bloody stools, and will likely end up in the emergency room,” he says.
Ultimately, Bedford stresses that colonoscopies are safe and important procedures. “Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in this country,” he says. “A colonoscopy should not be something that people shy away from. The benefits of the procedure certainly outweigh the potential risk of complications.”
UPDATE 1/23/18: Cass Regional Hospital sent Yahoo Lifestyle the following statement.
“As a hospital serving the health and wellness needs of our community, it is our greatest honor to care for our friends, families and neighbors in and around Cass County. Patient safety is always our first priority, and all of us at Cass Regional — doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and staff — strive to provide the very best care for our patients every day. Cass Regional Medical Center has fully addressed the findings of the recent survey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and has completed the corrective plan that was approved by CMS. Our hearts and prayers are with the family of Martha Wright. Since this is an ongoing legal matter, and due to HIPAA regulations, we are unable to provide further comment at this time.”
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