Imagine going to the hospital during an emergency, knowing very well that something wasn't right. A surgeon schedules surgery, but then cancels it saying something has changed, and then goes out of town for the weekend as your condition deteriorates. A doctor error similar to that happened to one woman, and now she is living without most of her small intestine.

The doctor failed to diagnose that her body was not carrying fresh blood to and from her small intestine, causing most of her small intestine to die. Had the woman been diagnosed correctly and surgery performed earlier, more of her intestine may have been saved. Now the woman has been left unable to work, and a jury has awarded her $1.5 million for her injuries.

Even though she won a medical malpractice lawsuit against her doctor, she has been left with a debilitating bowel disorder that could have been prevented if she was properly diagnosed. She was intending to go back to school to become a surgical technologist inspired by the other surgeons that saved her life while her doctor was out of town, but isn't able to work because of her disorder.

Because of her shortened intestines, it only takes food 30 minutes to pass through her body, not allowing enough time for proper nutritional absorption. A person with a healthy full-length intestine takes about 6-8 hours for food to pass through their system. This woman will now face a struggle for the rest of her life because of one doctor's error that was fully preventable.

Source: The News and Tribune, "Jury awards $1.5 million in medical malpractice suit," Matt Thacker, Jan. 20, 2012