A Tasmanian doctor has been ordered to pay over $755,000 to a woman claiming he botched her 2013 haemorrhoids surgery.
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Ann Marise Garling filed a claim against Hobart obesity surgeon Dr Tony Patiniotis in 2019, alleging that during her stapled haemorrhoidectomy operation in 2013, he applied staples to the incorrect location in her anal canal, resulting in nerve damage.
During a five-day trial in the Supreme Court in Hobart in 2022, Ms Garling's lawyers said that the 'botched' operation resulted in a deterioration in her physical and mental health in the months and years afterwards.
Ms Garling said following the surgery, she began experiencing nausea, vomiting and belching, and had difficulty defecating.
She was later diagnosed with slow transit constipation, and said she felt "agony" when trying to defecate.
She later agreed to an operation by another surgeon to install a loop ileostomy - whereby her waste would be discharged into an external stoma bag.
She testified that she felt embarrassed and socially isolated by having to use incontinence pads and the stoma.
This diminished her capacity to form relationships and prevented her from working, and the corrective operations were made necessary by Dr Patiniotis' negligence, her lawyers claimed.
Lawyers for Dr Patiniotis argued that there was no evidence linking Ms Garling's ongoing health problems to the operation.
They claimed that her health decline since the surgery could be explained by the natural progression of her pre-existing conditions.
In his decision on June 17, Supreme Court Justice Michael Brett found "on the balance of probabilities" that Ms Garling's condition had been caused by an action of Dr Patiiotis.
"I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the breach, that is the placement of the staple line over the dentate line, which necessarily involved staples placed low in the anal canal ... is the cause of the nerve damage," Justice Brett wrote in his decision.
He ruled that during the operation, Dr Patiniotis placed the staple line too low in the anal canal, which increased the risk of complications.
The "significant aggravation" of Ms Garling's problems with bowel function after the surgery resulted in the need for further corrective surgeries, including the loop ileostomy, the judge ruled.
"I am satisfied that it was this aggravation of the plaintiff's pre-existing problems with bowel function that led to the loop ileostomy, and the consequences thereof."
But the judge said he was not satisfied that Dr Patiniotis' "negligence" caused other problems in Ms Garling, including diminishing her "gastroinstestinal motility and musculoskeletal issues".
Justice Brett awarded damages totalling $755,475, including $75,000 for "pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life".
Dr Patiniotis has been contacted for comment.
He is director of the Hobart Obesity Surgery Centre, and has been practicing as a doctor for more than 20 years.
