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Two things usually follow a punctured or perforated bowel. The patient dies and the family sues. In rapid succession and with alarming regularity, that's what you can expect when your surgeon nicks the bowel during such routine laparoscopic procedures as hernia repair, liposuction or tubal ligation. Electrosurgical burns, adhesions, retained objects and stapling mishaps are complications of abdominal laparoscopic surgery that you want to avoid at all costs, but what makes bowel perfs so vexing is that they're frequently fatal and so easy to miss.
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