Woman's malpractice suit claims city doctor botched colonoscopy

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By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- A city woman claims a botched colonoscopy in 2009 has caused her ongoing medical problems.

Stephanie Boehmler is suing Dr. Richard John Sears and Winchester Gastroenterology Associates PLC for medical malpractice, in a complaint filed Friday in Frederick County Circuit Court. The plaintiff seeks a jury trial and $5 million in damages.

Sears, a gastroenterologist, performed a colonoscopy on the 29-year-old patient on June 23, 2009, to evaluate persistent diarrhea, the complaint states.

"Dr. Sears knew before the colonoscopy that Ms. Boehmler had great difficulty tolerating the 'prep' to clean out her colon and that she had severe left lower quadrant abdominal pain, abdominal cramping, nausea and vomiting," the complaint states. "He prescribed Demoral for her pain and decided to proceed with the colonoscopy without first evaluating what was the cause of her severe pain."

Sears first encountered an obstruction in the distal sigmoid colon through which he couldn't pass his scope, then successfully used a pediatric scope, according to the suit.
"He then aborted the procedure because he thought he might have perforated her colon," the complaint states. "After the procedure, her abdomen was rigid and distended, and she had repeated episodes of vomiting brown fecal-like material."

Sears had Boehmler admitted as an inpatient in the intensive care unit at Winchester Medical Center late that afternoon, according to the lawsuit.

The doctor performed another colonoscopy two days later, with the patient under conscious sedation. Sears used a stent to open and decompress the colon, after which the patient's abdomen appeared firmer and distended, the lawsuit states.

Though not diagnosed at the time, Sears perforated the colon at the hepatic flexure during the second procedure, according to the suit.

"Shortly after the second procedure, the patient had more episodes of vomiting brown material, and she likely aspirated fecal contents into her lungs," the complaint states.
The patient then "decompensated" and her legs became cold and mottled, according to the lawsuit. Nursing staff returned her to intensive care, where they noted the patient's racing heartbeat and could not obtain a blood pressure at 2:55 p.m. that day.

Dr. James Dumont performed an emergency operation to repair the perforation and to remove the obstructed portion of the colon -- surgery the plaintiff claims she would have needed with or without the high-risk stent procedure.

The complaint states Sears breached his duty of care to Boehmler by proceeding "with an ill-advised initial colonoscopy without investigating her pain." Likewise, the suit claims her performed the second colonoscopy when it had no significant benefit to the patient. Instead, a CT scan would have revealed a significant "stricture" that required surgery, according to the suit.

The plaintiff claims Sears performed both procedures without the patient's consent, and did not describe the risks nor alternatives. The doctor also caused the second perforation to the colon that developed into sepsis, and Sears failed to protect Boehmler from aspirating brown, fecal-like material, according to the plaintiff.

The patient, the suit claims, as a result has suffered a perforated colon; acute respiratory distress syndrome as a result of vomiting and aspirating after the second colonoscopy; intra-abdominal compartment syndrome from the quantity of air under pressure put in her bowel by Sears, who failed to promptly relieve it; sepsis syndrome; kidney failure; liver injury; a bleeding disorder called thrombocytopenia; and multi-organ failure leading to diffuse bleeding in the brain that eventually led to the removal of part of her skull to relieve the pressure.