Rhode Island Woman Is Awarded $1.3M After Botched Surgery

A jury has awarded $1.3 million to a Rhode Island woman who underwent gallstone surgery that resulted in months of complications because of negligence from Kent Hospital.

The jury reached a verdict Thursday, finding both Dr. Brian Reed and Kent Hospital negligent in the care of Ashley Vickers, The Providence Journal reported.

Vickers, 33, went to Reed at Kent Hospital for gallstone surgery in 2014 and returned to the hospital the next day because of pain and bleeding.

Over the course of two months, she continued to check in and out of Kent Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital with a sliced bile duct that was leaking into her abdomen, a pretrial memorandum said.

In order to fix the damage to her organs, Vickers had to undergo reconstructive surgery, including having her small intestine cut and rerouted.

According to the Department of Health, Reed is no longer licensed in Rhode Island.

“Today, her abdomen is now a completely altered system of scar tissue and changed anatomy, and she carries risk into the future,” Vickers’ lawyer, Michael P. Quinn Jr said.

Raina Smith, a spokesperson for Care New England, which owns Kent Hospital, declined to comment.