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Bee
Gee's Surgeon Already
Facing Similar Lawsuit
Legal Battle Looms as Autopsy proves inconclusive
by Fintan
Dunne, 20 Jan '03
Editor www.SickofDoctors.com
According
to a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court,
Dr. Irwin Willis the surgeon who operated on Bee Gee Maurice
Gibb, is facing a malpractice lawsuit centered on issues
of treatment delay similar to concerns expressed by brothers
Barry and Robin Gibb.
The lawsuit relates to the death in 1997 of Aracelis Rodriguez
Alba, following surgery to remove a pancreatic cancer
tumor. She developed an abdominal abscess during surgery
and died from a bacterial infection which the suit claims
was preventable. Dr. Willis, is is strongly defending
the civil action, which accuses him of "gross, wilful,
wanton and reckless or callous indifference," and failing
to intervene in a "timely and proper" manner.
 Maurice
Gibb too, may have died from a bacterial infection, and
his family are alleging untimely delay in addressing his
medical condition. He had been admitted to Mount Sinai
Hospital in Miami on Wednesday, but suffered cardiac arrest
at 4am on Thursday morning. Dr. Willis subsequently operated
to remove most of his bowel, but Maurice died days later
after an initially hopeful prognosis.
The Gibb family are investigating whether the failure
to operate immediately led to the death of the Bee Gee
member. The family's trusted tax attorney for 25 years,
Arnold Gitomer is now in Florida conducting an investigation
into the circumstances of his death.
DEFECTIVE
FROM BIRTH
Last
week, in an analysis of the case, SickOfDoctors.com speculated
that septic shock from leakage of bowel toxins due to
a rare, often undiagnosed congenital birth defect may
may have caused the heart attack which the star suffered.
Sleeving of the bowel such as Littre's hernia could have
led to loss of blood supply, gangrenation and fatal systemic
toxicity, we had speculated.
A just-released autopsy report by the Miami-Dade Medical
Examiner's office, has now confirmed that voluluous, or
intestinal twisting was the cause of Mr. Gibb's initial
admission to hospital. A lack of ligament connection to
the abdominal wall allows the intestine to twist. Like
Littre's hernia, the condition is present from birth but
may be undiagnosed and asymptomatic for life. Identified
specifically as ischemic enteropathy, this twisting of
the bowel restricted the flow of blood to his bowel said
the autopsy.
As was the case in last week's reports
of the star's death, media stories have again been flawed,
tending to oversimplify the autopsy as saying that volvulous
caused the tragic fatality. But the autopsy is inconclusive
on the cause of death --rather it identifies the cause
of admission to hospital.
Commenting on the autopsy report, Dr. Jeffrey Raskin,
chief gastroenterologist at Miami Memorial Medical Center
(who was not involved in Gibb's treatment), said the autopsy
does not indicate whether or not Gibb's death was preventable,
nor does it address how Gibb's cardiac arrest might have
affected his prognosis nor which, if any, organs had failed.
"It's impossible to say whether Gibb should have died.
The doctor who treated him is the only one who can answer
questions about his care, and why he (the doctor) did
what he did."
QUESTIONS
REMAIN
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"We
will pursue every factor, every element, every second
of the timeline of the final
hours of Maurice's life... "We will pursue that
relentlessly. That will be our quest
from now on,"
Barry Gibb to BBC 
RealPlayer Audio 56k
LISTEN
SONGS
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The search
for answers by the Gibb family attorney is also focussed
on why the decision was taken to operate after the heart
attack.
A professional assessment of the cause of the cardiac
arrest would have realized that septic shock was a likely
cause, and an alternative approach might have been to
delay until the endotoxaemia/bactermia had been stabilized
or reduced.
Toxic systemic shock is fatal of itself without adding
to the metabolic stress by administration of anesthetic
and conducting a highly invasive surgical procedure on
the intestine. Conversely, not operating would have allowed
continued blood loss and release of toxins. A desperate
medical quandary indeed.
Once the cardiac arrest had taken place, the narrowing
options did not bode well for Maurice Gibb. However the
central question raised by our previous analysis remains:
why was he still awaiting surgery at 4am when his heart
failed, so many hours after his admission.
That may be a difficult question to answer. Already, James
Eckhart, an attorney for Dr.Willis says that the Bee Gees'
version of the timing of the heart attack and surgery
does not match that of the Dr. Willis.
The answers may come only in a courtroom.
Copyright
©SickofDoctors.com
2003 Reprint in entirety, only for non-profit use.
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